Black And White
by CloudyxRainbow
Summary: The world isn't just black and white. You got to realize that to be truly happy. And until then, I'll be there to show you. I'll make you happy. Niley
1. Prologue

A happy couple cuddling in a park. A little child trying to catch butterflies. A couple of friends giggling and walking into the school building. The hottest of the hottest of school leaning against the building and acting like they are just so cool. A girl in a skirt feeling very out of place. A dark alley- wait, what?

Oh yeah, that's me. Silly old me trying to fit into this world; or just into this school. I know I'm not beautiful. I know I'm not dangerously skinny – contrary to that, I know I'm not fat either. Though I suppose fat is the wrong term here. I'd say heavier than usual but in this world, you're skinny, normal or fat. I'm in between skinny and normal, somewhere.

Of course, being not skinny doesn't make you cool enough. You don't fit in with the 'fat' people because obviously, to them you're skinny. You don't fit in with the skinny people because obviously, to them you're fat. So what do you do? Make your own group of friends? Yeah, I suppose that could have worked. Except it wasn't that easy to find people in between anything.

In the end, I found two people that seemed to fit in with me. The problem was that despite that, we three didn't fit in with the rest. We really weren't 'fat'. We had curves where needed, our legs were just the right amount of skinny in order not to look too sticky or anything and… let's just say, our boobs were pretty nice too.

Yeah, to many of you, this description might have seemed pretty hot. A girl with curves, big boobs and ridiculously long and skinny legs? Any normal guy would appreciate the view. Well, not in this school. If this school would have a slogan, it would be something like 'skinny is in-ny'. And everything else would just be… well, out as in, not in as in… you're a loser, an underdog. Someone standing on the other side looking in, to sound poetic.

Nerds at least have the opportunity to say 'at least I have good grades, that's why I go to school' or something like that. But neither I nor my two friends have good grades. We're average, I suppose. But average wasn't good enough. Especially not for boys. That's why being in love with the unreachable was pretty hurtful… and frustrating.

So, meet me, Miley Stewart, underdog, not too fat but not skinny enough, not smart but not stupid either, and her two friends, Demi Monroe and Brooke Penelope (it's really her last name and she hates it, let me tell you). Both girls are crazy as can be but that's why they're my friends.

Welcome to my world… my crazy… crazy, crazy world.

* * *

**Don't kill me, don't kill me, don't kill me... I know you all hate me anyway... I didn't update GAC... and it seems like I just can't because of several reasons. The first one is I really have no idea what to write. It's the worst excuse ever, I know... but it's the truth. The second reason being that last weekend I had to reset my laptop and while doing so it appears that I have deleted every single document from my computer. You have no idea how bad I want to cry right now. All my stories... just, gone. Everything... even the documents that I wrote when I was like... ten, or something... I feel really upset and angry with myself for not being able to finish GAC right now... I will at some point or another.**

**Anyhow, this is just the Prologe of my new story... or what could be my new story... review and tell me if you like it and if you do, I'll post the first chapter. It's gonna be a funny but also romantic and slightly dramaful story. Anyway, leave a review and let me know what you think. I honestly can't wait to read what you thought of it... I'm kinda excited for this story... okay, I'mma shut up and let you review ^^**


	2. Chapter 1

Here's the deal, I'm not a story teller. This all is going to be realistic. It's probably because this is not a story but my life. This is my journal. Girly girls would call this a diary. But I'm not a girly girl. I'm cool – in my own way… and in my group. I act cool, I suppose. At least Brooke and Demi think so. It took some convincing though. At first they thought me weird because I kept saying how we were all special.

"Made to be underdogs, I'm telling ya." Demi and Brooke raised their eyebrows. They already were friends and being the amazing me that I was… am… uh, whatever, being the amazing me I felt like those two would be great friends. I felt that those two were just like me. In fact, I knew they were. Before I approached them about becoming a group I watched them. No, I'm not a stalker.

"Okay, so you're saying we're all losers because…?" I sighed and shrugged.

"If I knew why I was a loser I would change something about it. We're just not skinny enough to fit with those who are and we're not 'fat' enough to fit with those either. We're hot, they can't handle that." Demi giggled because she liked what I said. She told me that.

"I like you, you know. You seem confident… which confuses me because you're just like us. An outsider, looking in on the popular and rich being themselves. Stuck up little bitches." I laughed at that and nodded.

"I'm confident because I know what I'm capable of. Of course I'm depressed about being a loser. If you knew just how depressed I am about that, you'd cry and be depressed because I'm depressed. At least my mother is. Anyway, I know what I'm capable of and I know that even though we don't belong here, after High School all those statuses don't mean anything anymore. If I was a cheerleader or a Goth won't matter anymore once we're done with School." Brooke smirked and nodded in some sort of amazement.

"You're right. Yeah, I like you too. Okay, let's be losers together." And that's about how our friendship started. We always considered ourselves weird because it was true. No fake bitches, everything was real with us. No lies, no drama… also no boys. That came along with being weird. At some point or another we were pretty frustrated about that one.

You see, Brooke seemed to have a rather dangerous addiction. Even though she was nowhere near being popular, she had slept with more guys than all the popular girls together. I explained this to myself in the most simple way I could think of. Those popular skinny girls can't handle more sex than once a week because they're just that skinny, meaning their limbs hurt because of missing fat and muscles. They're practically just bones and skin.

Brooke seemed addicted to sex – which she claimed she wasn't, by the way – and so, of course having two friends like me and Demi didn't come in handy. She would still check out every guy she saw and she would still try to get with them. It just didn't always work out as it used to. She was frustrated with this so we told her to find a shrink and talk about her addiction. She flipped us off and has not whined about not having had sex 'forever' ever since.

But Demi and I were pretty frustrated too. Our problem was the little amount of sex we had had in our lives – make that none – but rather the lack of boys ultimately. I knew we weren't that hideous. It was more like the fact that we were invisible to the boys at school. Oh, talking about the boys at school… let's just say, like, hottest boys of the planet? Also, the biggest jerks ever.

Neither Brooke, Demi nor I could decide which one of those qualities was either attractive or pissing us off. Mostly we were annoyed with the jerks, sometimes we were attracted to their looks. Obviously, the boys knew just how good looking they were. They got every girl in school… well, every girl except us, clearly.

Demi seemed okay with it, as far as she could be. We were seventeen for god's sake, of course it got to us that we didn't have boyfriends. I've never even been kissed. Brooke was the only experienced one. She was fully experienced, if you know what I mean. Then there was Demi who had made out with a few guys before. But she said that all those guys were either greasy and gross or way older than her. Both thoughts made me want to throw up.

Demi didn't seem like the girl to just make out with anyone. But if what she said was true, a thirty-two year old had felt her up and had wanted to take off her clothes before she could stop him. She did stop him because she felt weird and a week later they had stopped seeing each other. That was about five months before I got them to be my friends so around the time Demi turned 16. Just the thought of making out and maybe even going further with a guy as old as that made me feel sick.

Demi told me that she did feel sick as well. Her mother is only thirty-five after all and just thinking she might as well make out with her dad was just repulsive – of course despite the fact that not only would it be gross to think that, it also would be more than just illegal, it would also be incest. But I think that was about as much detail as she would give me so I won't grace you all with my very visual picture of all the gross scenarios that come to mind when I think about that.

Back to me and those two crazy chicks becoming friends. Ever since then, we've hung out more than once. Obviously, since we've become best friends and all. We're all crazy but if I had to pick the craziest one I would say Brooke. I love Brooke, but she just was… she was Brooke. It wasn't an insult to say 'You're so Brooke'. Everybody surprisingly said that.

Obviously, to those who said that, they actually meant to say it as an insult since we were outsiders, but to us, it was the most ridiculous thing ever. Brooke actually wanted to let it be copyrighted. 'You're just so Brooke' would become the new 'That's what she said'… according to her at least. But Demi and I knew that that was just a bunch of crap.

Brooke had her days where she'd be normal… and then there were days when she'd be crazy as hell. And today seemed to be the latter. Brooke was in her I'm-Brooke-hear-my-roar mood. She didn't care if someone found her weird on those days. She'd just be herself. I liked that about her. But at the same time, I hated it as well. I mean, I would be associated with her craziness… never mind that I'm just as crazy as her.

"And then, I went SMASH into that window… It was hilarious!" I cringed at her rather loud exclamation as she slammed the locker shut at the same time. Demi sighed as she put a hand over Brooke's mouth. Brooke looked at her confused. It actually looked cute when she looked like that but that did not excuse her weird behavior. It never did.

"Brooke, I'd really appreciate it if you would be a little quieter… I have a headache. You always have these days when I have the worst migraine ever. Please… shut up." Brooke frowned but shrugged and nodded. Demi let out a breath and pulled her hand away from Brooke. Brooke was just pouting at this point. But that was just Brooke, I guess.

"Oh, have you seen Mr. Canelli today? He is such a hottie, isn't he? God, I wish I could just rip off his clothes and…" I bit my lip as Brooke suddenly stopped talking about our Math teacher. Demi had started shaking her head frantically but now it was already too late anyway. I tried so hard not to laugh as the subject of Brooke's fantasies crossed his arms over his chest behind her.

"Care to carry on that thought?" Brooke closed her eyes defeated and bit her upper lip. So Brooke, really. She would just do anything to embarrass herself. Even if it was subconscious. She was always the one to step in the traps fate had set her. I at least managed to weasel my way out of fate so far. I mean, yeah, people basically hated me for having a fairly 'hot' body – hot in the sense of hot that normal boys would dig while my school just… didn't – so I guess, I didn't completely weasel my way out. But as far as I could, at least.

"Uh… I'd rather… not?" Brooke slowly turned around and was met with Mr. Canelli's gorgeous blue eyes. He really was hot after all; nobody would ever blame Brooke from dreaming about him. I didn't, of course, because it seemed I was immune to the 'hot-teacher-syndrome'. My mother was more of that type. Thank god Dad decided to leave her as soon as he could.

Mr. Canelli smirked at Brooke – which was something you don't see every day, I mean, he was basically flirting with her and all – and nodded. Then he suddenly shrugged, looking a little more interested than he probably should have. Brooke started blushing madly. Her dimples were long gone and also gone was her 'Brooke-mode'. Now she was back to being… 'Underdog'.

"Well, I'd really like to know." Demi almost let out a squeal but I just stepped on her foot to make it look like an accident so that Demi's squeal could be taken out of the surprise and slight pain she felt from it. I eyed Brooke while she fumbled with her fingers nervously.

"Uh… well, just… rip your clothes off and then… uh, just, you know… wash them?" A really pathetic attempt to fix what was made to be broken, if you ask me. But of course, Canelli only laughed. It was slightly weird that nobody was staring. Canelli was a really beautiful man, honestly. Every single girl in this school had at least thought about how it would be if he were to take an interest in her. And now he was obviously flirting with Brooke, out of all people, and nobody noticed? Were we really that invisible?

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what you wanted to do." It didn't help his case that he was only 22 which made him only five years older than us. And what may seem like ages now would be nothing in a few years. His blonde hair was just so… shiny but not too light or anything. It wasn't bleach blonde, let's just say it like that.

"I sure did… I just never said what I wanted to do while we have to wait till they're done with washing." My eyes widened as Demi suppressed another squeal. Did Brooke just blatantly flirt back without even as much as blinking? Oh yeah, you got yourself a dilemma, Brookie. Of course, Canelli smirked and leaned closer… wait, he leaned closer. Oh no… She better stop now, she knew that it was illegal and all.

I mean, he was a teacher after all, no matter how much older he was. She was also only seventeen for god's sake! And he was flirting with her out in the open like that… Is that guy crazy? He's risking his job to flirt with a minor. Idiot. Gorgeous idiot.

"Uh… Come on, Brooke… we need to go do… uh... something. Brooke!" She jumped and turned around fast. I would have gotten dizzy, she only looked confused and… slightly dazzled. Okay, she needed a reality check. We were outsiders as it was, she suddenly seeming too close with our Math teacher wouldn't make us climb up the latter of success or anything.

"Oh… right, uhm… we'll see you later, Mr. Canelli." She shot him a flirty smile and then started sauntering off. I smiled at Canelli tight-lipped and then followed Brooke, pulling Demi with me. That girl…

"Brooke, are you crazy? Seriously, you can't do that! He's our teacher for crying out loud!" Brooke shrugged and then smirked.

"What? He's hot and he's twenty-two which makes him almost reachable." I shook my head. Seriously, this girl had some nerve. Almost reachable?

"Yeah, almost reachable as far as a teacher is reachable. You can ask him about your homework now." Brooke shot me a glare that lasted for about two seconds until she broke out into a wide grin.

"That is actually such a great idea! I'll just ask him if he's going to tutor me because I'm honestly flanking Math and then… yeah, and then…" And off she goes, dreaming about her 'hot sex' with Canelli. Obviously, she won't have sex with him… I hoped. I was actually hoping that maybe, Canelli would at least be smart enough to not sleep with her until she was eighteen to make it at least in one way legal.

"Ew, Brooke, mental image." Brooke only shrugged and smirked our way as we walked into our next class. Welcome to the world of Physics…

* * *

"Uh, sir, would you… sir, here, take this… Madame, here, I have…" What a lousy job to do. Do you know this feeling when you have a job for the sake of it, to get money the easiest way possible, but you hate your job? You know, where you always complain about how much it sucks to do this and that for your boss because it's just so exhausting? But at the end of the day you love your job anyway because you do have it and you earn money for it.

Well, I don't love it. I hate it. I sincerely do. This was the only thing, the only job that I got in this godforsaken town. Without anyone knowing I started looking for jobs that paid well. And without realizing I 'picked' the crappiest out there. I didn't have much of a choice, rather bad luck. Well, I guess fate did not like me after all.

At first I wanted to work in an office as some sort of secretary. You know, do the paper work and stuff. Something boring and something in a room, preferably. But once I answered the ad in the newspaper they told me that they had already found someone… more suitable. In other words, I was not qualified. I knew that bit but I thought if I worked hard enough I could… qualify myself.

Well, they didn't take me and hired someone else. No biggie, I was cool with it. I knew I wouldn't get the first job I wanted simply because I wanted it. So I tried the next thing that sounded interesting. A waitress job in one of the restaurants. It was a rather popular restaurant and they needed more than one waiter so of course I saw my chances rising.

Once I got a letter back to my answer of the ad – I had to actually write a letter and send qualifications and such… my chances were rapidly falling once again – I knew I would never get the job. The answer said something like 'we had a lot of applicants and along those we are not sure if you can fulfill the job as we would like you to'. Once again, in other words, I was unable and incapable of serving people, simply unqualified.

I used to think waiting people would be the easiest thing. I mean, sure, you have to be able to carry tons of things at once but after some practice, everyone would be able to. Well, I tried to carry three plates at once and they all ended up crashing to the floor. Thankfully I tried that at home so I only got a minor punishment from Mom. I didn't want to embarrass myself in public.

The punishment was really minor. I had to buy her three new plates. Easier said than done. I was practically broke then. I didn't get that much pocket money and… I just liked clothes better than I should have, let's say it like that. I wasn't a materialized woman or anything; I just liked to dress myself nicely. And sometimes it just cost more than I liked it to.

After several of other tries to get a decent job I had no other choice but to chose the very last ad there was in the newspaper. I had tried to avoid it but I was not qualified for any other job that I wanted – say, every other job on the freaking page, other than the last one. So reluctantly I showed up at this very weird looking building to talk to the manager… or whatever that boy was.

He was sitting behind this big table and it just looked ridiculous. I tried not to be freaked out by the smile on his face once he saw me. Next thing he did was say something that caught me so off guard, I couldn't say anything back. The nerve of that punk…

"Hey sexy, we need you." Yeah, I know. What the hell? I later realized what he meant. Even though I did not end up being that positive of an influence to the business as he would have liked me to be. I just flushed furiously red after he said that. Of course, that little jerk chuckled and waved around with his hand.

"Sorry, old habits die hard." Yeah, unfortunately stupid pricks too. I didn't say that, I only nodded and shrugged. Hey, I did need a job. Being mean to the boss who was probably two years younger than me would not do me well. It got me thinking for a moment. How could this boy who really wasn't any older than fifteen, be a boss to a company while I was not only lacking money but also an actual job and social life?

"Anyway, I see you want to be a part of my company. I'd like to hire you. I think we've got ourselves a win-win situation." I didn't see how this was a double win situation since all I would get is a job while he would get me as a worker. Obviously, the latter was only positive for him so it wasn't my win to begin with which left me to think about what my second 'win' could be. I realized that there was no second win, the boy was just crazy.

"So, I know you are seventeen. I know which school you go to and I found out your schedule so I can give you a work schedule right now. Your name is Miley Stewart… and you're one hot chick, perfect for this company." God, would the guy ever shut up about this? I mean, yeah, finally someone complimented me. But did it have to be someone like him?

I'm not judgmental, because really, what right do I have to do that? But this dude, named Ed, was starting to piss me off greatly. It didn't help his case that he looked like a complete nerd. And it frustrated me that the only male human being on this planet that commented me had to be someone like him – and two years younger.

But of course, I kept my mouth shut about it. I wanted a job after all and no matter how crappy this was, I needed the money. Sounds weird saying it. I only ever heard people go like 'I was young and needed the money' when they come across an embarrassing picture or something. In this case, my embarrassing picture would just be my pathetic life. And I did need the money, in all honesty.

Also, I was just slightly weirded out by the fact that this nerd knew my schedule. I really hoped that he didn't know when I went to the toilet and stuff. That would be gross. But with Ed, you never knew so I didn't even ask him. I just let him have those few moments of fun, I suppose. Even though he wasn't having fun. He just enjoyed staring at my boobs.

"Okay, so, you will have to work every day because we get several jobs a day which of course, makes us busier than we would have planned to be. That is also why I needed more workers here. Of course, if the workers are good looking, it just adds fuel to the fire… or something like that. Uh… I suppose you'll get here after school which is when I will be here too. We can just come together… Uh, I mean, you know…" Oh dear god, kill me.

That's what I thought when he stumbled across the last few words. Not only was this boy a nerd and obnoxious and downright annoying but he was also a pervert. Even though he acted all awkward about it, we both knew he enjoyed the sexual innuendos far more than he should have. Boys and their hormones. But we outsiders – I just assumed he was 'one of my sort' – had to stick together… Thank god Brooke did not hear me say that, even though I never said it out loud. She was just as perverted and would have formed that into the grossest thing you ever heard within seconds. Especially with Ed acting like a maniac right now.

"Anyway, here's your schedule and… here's your first… job." He handed me a tiny piece of paper with something scrabbled on it. It was hard to make out what it really said but I didn't want to ask him in case he suddenly found me unqualified or something. And the other thing that he handed me was a stack of flyers. Those would only be the first with million more to come. And I already regretted it back then.

So now, here I was, standing on the street, while it was raining cats and dogs and probably frogs as well, trying to stuff some ridiculous flyers into peoples' hands. The ink was already starting to smear and I tried to think of one reason why any normal human being in their right mind would bother taking this from me. The problem was, I wasn't allowed to leave until I got rid of them.

Ed had this freaky way of finding out if I just threw them away or stuffed them into my bag just to get off work. It would get really late at night and I would still be standing there with those flyers and nobody would take them. I mean, you don't have to read them, you know? Just take them and rip them apart or throw them in the trashcan… do something, just take them, you know?

What I hated most about this job was not only the fact that Ed was getting more perverted as the days went by but also that some of my fellow school colleagues found out that I was working for someone like Ed. They constantly found me on the street just to make fun of me. My social life was not increasing with the amount of time I spent, trying to hand the flyers out so it just added to it all.

Today was one of those days where I'd really like to hang myself… or eat all of those flyers just so I could go home. I was wet from head to toe, freezing cold and I had only gotten rid of three flyers yet one of which flew out of my hand by accident as I had tried to hand it to someone who wouldn't have taken it anyway. Obviously I didn't bother trying to get the flyer back. It was way too far away and I didn't feel like moving… much less was I able to.

And while I was standing there, soaking wet and freezing to death, I saw them approach. '_They'_ being the popular people from my school. The rich and pretty, so to say. They were already smirking as they saw me stand there pathetically, shivering like crazy. I looked a mess, I knew that, and the fact that the only boy who had ever managed to catch my heart was with them didn't really help either.

"Oh, look who it is… little Miss Fatso." Those snide remarks would have hurt except I knew I wasn't anywhere near… 'fat'. I knew that I had my curves but it wasn't like they were that… big, I guess. I looked healthy and I was proud of that. I definitely looked healthy as opposed to the girls in the group. The main girl, Clara, just had taken a step forward and smirked at me. She had someone holding an umbrella for her so her hair didn't get wet. Oh, how fortunate for her.

"Trying to hand out flyers again? Ever thought about why nobody wants to take any from you? It's because you're ugly." The people around her laughed and honestly, that did something. I did feel hurt after that, no matter how ridiculous this all sounded. I was self-conscious as it was, she didn't need to rub in the fact that she was gorgeous while I was not.

I didn't notice that one of them wasn't laughing. I was too busy trying not to cry out of embarrassment and hurt. Of course I was stronger than that… usually. But today has been a crappy day as it was. Brooke had actually gotten Canelli to tutor her which I still think was the most stupid thing of her to do.

Demi and I had fought over… god knows what and we weren't talking to each other currently which just made the popular even happier. I was alone now; fragile and vulnerable, of course they'd go in for the kill. And Clara was the most obvious one to try and hurt me the best way she could. And I let her – stupid me.

"Well, I suppose you already know that. Well, have fun whoring around." I looked at her confused. Okay, what? Everyone around her looked at her confused as well so she was off script, I assumed.

"Hello, people, standing on the corner of the street waiting for people to get something from her. Whoring around. Duh." Worst insult ever, but it worked. I wasn't a whore and I wasn't trying to be. I looked like a bookworm, of course people would think I'm a whore. Stupid bitch. But her minions around her laughed like crazy as they started walking away.

I sighed and looked down at the barely readable flyers. I would never get rid of them. And the rain was getting heavier. My hair was so gross by now, I was sure. Rain did not do it any good. I sighed again and hit the trashcan right next to me. Such a tempting thing, really. I could just throw them in there and leave. But Ed would find out with his superpowers. He knew these things.

"Whoa, calm down…" I jumped back and looked up. Either I was hallucinating or I was about to have a heart attack because standing right in front of me was none other than the boy who had my heart since forever. I blushed furiously, though I don't think you could have seen. I was still freezing after all.

"Uh… sorry… I just… I have to get rid of these else I can't leave. It just sucks because Ed knows when I just throw them out. He's psychic… and you probably didn't want to know that, sorry…" This gorgeous creature I was fortunate enough to talk to just chuckled and shrugged.

"It's cool… I suppose Ed is your boss or something?" I nodded and fidgeted with the flyers in my hand. The paper was barely even stabile anymore. It was lush in my hands.

"Yeah, and he senses when I throw the flyers in the trashcan. That's why I hate that thing so much. It's just always standing there, interrogating me." He chuckled – which made my heart flutter… I made him chuckle! – and grabbed the flyers. I so did not notice how his fingers brushed mine and I felt all warm inside. Sorry for being a sap.

"Here… I'll just take these and…" And suddenly the flyers disappeared in the trashcan. I squealed and tried to pull them back out but he held me back. Gosh, his hands on me… How embarrassing, really. Embarrassing and pathetic. He would never think about me that way. Why was I getting so worked up over this? Oh right, because he's popular and I'm not and I've only been in love with him since forever.

"Nope, leave them in there." I shook my head frantically as if my life depended on this job. If you think about it, it actually did, but I would never accept that nor admit it, really.

"But Ed would know if I threw them in there!" But he just shook his head. God, that boy… he's so gorgeous… yet really frustrating and unreachable. He's probably just making fun of me as we speak.

"You didn't throw them in there, I did. Now go home and warm up, you'll catch a serious cold if you don't." Was he worried about my well-being? Nope, he was out to get me to cry. He'd done it before, why wouldn't he now?

"Uh… well, Ed would be very pissed off…" He just shrugged.

"So? I heard he's younger than you." I bit my lip. I was torn, actually. He was talking to me, being nice even, but this would threaten my job. And my talking skills were those of a seven year old right now. I couldn't form correct full intellectual sentences.

"Yeah… he is… uh… thanks, I'll just… go." I wanted to hit my head so bad as I stumbled forward. He smiled that perfect smile of his and ran a hand through his wet hair. Only then did I realize how bad I looked. I blushed again but I knew that it would not be visible to him or anyone else. I think my body temperature was way off from healthy. My fingers were starting to turn blue.

"Bye Miley…" I stopped breathing for a moment as I watched him walk away. How did he know my name? His perfect figure disappeared out of my sight but not before I muttered a silent goodbye to him as well.

"Bye Nick…" I sighed sort of happily and walked home. I wasn't worried about the flyers then. That moment it only mattered that Nick out of all people had helped me out, talked to me and actually knew my name. It was just perfect. I walked home in the pouring rain and smiled to myself. Watch out world, I was starting to become crazy. Crazy for Nick Jonas.

* * *

**And... there you have it :) The very first chapter of BAW... now tell me, did you like the way I wrote this? It's supposed to be like, Miley's 'writing' in her journarl/diary and telling her story, you know? Just without me writing dates and stuff... I tried to keep it light and funny but there will be some 'dark moments' and drama... just warning you now :)**

**So, did you like it? Let me know in a review, I've always loved those ^^ Thanks for reading :)**


	3. Chapter 2

Have you ever thought that at one point or another, your life suddenly feels better; the point where it all changed? Yeah, I've thought that about a week ago when one of the most popular boys in school helped me out with my work and saved me from having the worst cold ever. I thought that maybe, things would change. Well, I thought wrong.

I'm a naïve person, I've always known that. I was so close to actually believing that he wasn't just trying to get a laugh out of helping me. But after a week of watching him from afar and him not even giving me as much as a glance, I realized that all I ever seemed to have been was a momentary social project kind of thing.

Despite my short lack of judging ability, nothing weird has happened in this week. Demi and I made up and even though both are my best friends, I only told Demi about the incident. The incident being Nick helping me out. Brooke would have jumped to conclusions and she would have called me out on having a crush on the guy.

Okay, I did have a crush on him and all, but Brooke would be awful about it. Demi was just listening, smiling from time to time, and then she put her two cents in. Having a crush on a guy like Nick was like wanting fifty ice cream cones at once. A dream but it would never come true; it'd be impossible. Wanting something out of reach was a bad habit, I guess of everyone.

I was just good at wanting something like love out of reach. You'd get over it if you wanted so many ice cream cones at once and not getting them. But falling in love with the boy you know you can't have… I would call that heartbreak. Realizing that he's never going to love you, no matter how hard you tried. I got over it because I realized that you can't want everything and expect to get it.

Nick was way beyond the valley of gorgeous. He was tall, way taller than me. He was buff that sometimes I wondered how much he had to work out to get all those muscles. His hair was perfectly curly though he might have recently cut it short. Still curly enough to look incredibly cute. His chocolate brown eyes – which I just love so much, sorry for the teenie-moment – were so soft and caring, yet they could hold passion in them.

I only knew they held passion in them because of the several games I'd seen him play with his football team. He was passionate about the game and you could see it in his eyes. This boy was altogether and adorable human being and the fact that he had cared for me – only in the amount of five minutes – was almost overwhelming.

Therefore it was almost heartbreaking to see that even though he knew my name – which was monumental, by the way – he didn't really care like I had thought he did. I mean, I walked home in the pouring rain after that little encounter. But the next few days at school, I hadn't even gotten something as simple as a smile.

Demi had only said that boys were complicated. Thank you, Miss Obvious, for pointing that out. But she'd also said that when it came to feelings out of their 'circle' they were even more complicated and confusing than when it came to feelings in their 'circle'. To say it better, they weren't allowed to like someone out of their group, someone not popular.

Stupid High School rules, really. I get it, you know? Liking someone as low standard as me would seriously be social suicide. I wasn't like that though. I was under the impression that we all were the same because, really, we really were. We all breathe the same air; we all have hearts that can break. There's no difference, yet there seems to be so much.

However, back to the matter at hand, it was the same as always, today. I was watching Nick from afar, adoring his hair that seemed to be perfect all the time though he claimed that he did not do anything with it other than wash it. His face was glowing as he was laughing with someone about something they'd said. I wasn't jealous that he was having fun; no, I was glad he was having fun. I was jealous that he was having fun _without me_.

He may not know that I like him like that and he may not know that I just wanted him to have fun with me, but I'd just thought he liked me in some weird twisted way and the fact that he didn't just hurt, you know? I was never a girl like that; a girl to get jealous at something as simple as a good laugh with a friend or something like that. I was just in love with someone that I would never get to be with.

I was at the fountain in the school yard with Demi while Brooke was off 'studying' with Canelli even though we all knew that they were not just doing that. It had been a week and Brooke had that guy wrapped around her little finger. Honestly, I found it a little disturbing that Canelli was so willing with this but whatever; it wasn't my deal to being with.

It was a sunny day – thank god – and Demi had her body on full display. No, she wasn't naked. She actually was wearing quite a lot but in a way to show off her… really nice body. Demi knew how to work it, I suppose. And her nice tan skin was helping a lot. I mean, my skin was pretty tan too but I was more white than tan, you know?

I was wearing shorts and a v-neck shirt because, really, I only ever kept it casual. But I knew that to every normal person it would have looked good. Of course in this school it looked either too slutty or too not-slutty. It's always either or, not good enough anyway. But in cases like that, I really don't care. I liked how I looked and I would not let anyone ruin my mood on this sunny day.

"So, I see how you keep staring over at Mr. Dreamy." I blushed but shrugged anyway. No need denying it.

"Yeah… I don't know, Demi. Was that all just some sort of joke last week? I thought like he might even care." Demi shrugged and glanced over at Nick for a second. The sunlight looked just perfect on him.

"I don't know, Mile. If everything you told me was true… maybe he does care but he's just too scared to show it around others… specifically his friends… who are the most popular in our school. Of course he's not gonna come up here and talk to you just like that." I looked down for a moment. I knew she was right.

Someone like him would never like me. Why would he? I'm no one special. I'm just me and all, you know? There's nothing that would attract someone like him – someone good looking and popular and just too hot – to someone like me. So I decided that Demi was right; Nick wouldn't approach me in school. If he would approach me at all that is. Maybe he just saw a pathetic loser in need last week?

"You're right. He will never just approach me like that… he will never like me like that. I'm over it, okay?" Demi sighed a little. Yeah, she was getting annoyed, obviously. And soon she'll leave, just wait…

"Okay, whatever, I gotta go to the library. I have to study at some point or another. I suppose now's the right time… or not, whatever. I still gotta go. Later." I nodded and watched her leave. Well, there, gone. I sighed and turned my head towards Nick again, only to see that he had left to… somewhere. Oh well, at least I can't stare at him any longer and torture myself like this.

I got up off the fountain and made my way over to a more deserted area of the yard. Nobody ever really went there. Only Brooke, Demi and I, really. Sometimes a few other people but they would mostly make out with each other. I do not wanna get into what they really did there other than make out – or who they made out with. Some things are better left unsaid. There are a few unsettling sights to see there.

I sit down against the wall and grab into my bag. In there, I can feel the pack but I'm not sure if I should really pull it out. It wasn't allowed on the school grounds. Even though nobody was around and nobody would notice. So, after lingering in my bag with my hand for another moment I pulled it out quickly. Don't judge, it's a really bad habit, nothing more.

I popped one out and stuff it in my mouth. Just as I was about to light one, someone pulled it out of my mouth and threw it away. I jumped and turned to look at the 'rude intruder'. I squinted because the sun is blinding me but after some time, my eyes got used to the light and I could make out curly hair. I wanted to gasp but seriously, that would have been too obvious.

"That's not healthy." I stuff the pack of cigarettes back into my bag and blush slightly. I don't know when I started smoking but I did and now, every once in a while when I was alone I would light one and just smoke it. I knew it was unhealthy though.

"I know, thanks for the info." He chuckled lightly at my pathetic attempt to be funny and places himself next to me. Was I suddenly in another universe that he was suddenly interested in talking to me? I mean, he was and now he was sitting next to me too? Seriously, did I switch universes?

"I was just trying to make you feel guilty, I guess. You shouldn't smoke." I shrugged and looked straight ahead. If I looked at him I would probably die or something. He was just too gorgeous to look at.

"I know I shouldn't… just sometimes, there's no one there to remind me of it. Sometimes, I'm just alone and then I feel like smoking. It's like, with the cutters. They cut when they're depressed. I smoke when I'm alone and have nothing better to do. Others eat when they have nothing better to do." He sighed next to me and suddenly I just knew that he was looking at me… almost desperately.

"But you could find something else to do other than that. Eating would be better than smoking…" I shook my head. What the hell was going on? Was I hallucinating or something?

"Listen, I don't know why you would care or anything, but if I ate every time I was alone or in some way depressed I'd either be bloated as hell or I would already have exploded. Smoking – in this case – seems more healthy than everything else." He shook his head again. I was starting to think that maybe there was some sort of drug in my cigarette so that's what was going on.

It was silent for a long period of time, almost an awkward silence – almost. He then turned his full body towards me which made me turn my head towards him. I flushed almost immediately. He was so close I could smell his cologne. Ah, it would now be my favorite of all time.

"I'm sorry for what my friends and I have done to you in the past. I know I wasn't part of most of the things they did but I didn't stop them and I think that that's reason enough to apologize. The point is, I like you. You're not like everyone else but you embrace it. I like that about you. I like that you seem so out of place and yet everyone keeps talking about you." I rolled my eyes, ignoring his comment about him liking me. At least for the moment.

"Yeah, they keep talking shit about me. They keep making fun of me. That's what they're talking about, not about how beautiful I am or how good I am in school. Mind the fact that I'm neither of those." Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. I was seriously starting to think I had either really had some sort of drug influence by then or I was in a coma or something like that.

"You don't get it, do you? They keep 'making fun of you' because they don't have a body like you do. They keep talking 'shit' about you because you are, in fact, beautiful and everybody just wishes to be you. Listen, I don't know what kind of impression you have of yourself, but you got to realize that people are only jealous of you." I shook my head and sighed. I would just go along with my dream or whatever this was. Might as well enjoy some more compliments, right?

"No, you don't understand. They're not jealous. In this school, it's all about the body. Either you're skinny – which would make you 'in' – or you're not – which would make you 'out' or… just plain 'fat' in some people's eyes. I'm neither so I don't fit in at all. End of. You can't come here and tell me that people are jealous. There's 'skinny' and 'fat'. There's right and wrong. There's black and white. That's it. Sorry to burst your bubble." Oops, didn't mean to babble. If this were real life I would have right about died right there. In my dream thing I was only blushing though.

"And that's where you're wrong! There's not only right and wrong. The world isn't just black and white. You got to realize that to be truly happy. And until then, I'll show you. I'll prove to you that there's grey in this world too. I'll show you. I'll make you believe in that. I'll make you happy." I was sure that this was not real. Nick Jonas wanting to make me happy? Yeah, I was going crazy.

"Yeah, uh huh, and how are you going to do that? You're popular, I'm not. People wouldn't be happy to see you with me." I was not believing this, so I was going along with it. Maybe I did turn out sick last week and now I was just dreaming! Yeah, that was it! Ha, and I thought I could fool myself into believing that Nick would really care about me!

"Well, I don't care about those people. Those people can go fuck themselves. I don't like the way they judge and I like you so I don't like the way they judge you. And I know that most of those people are my friends so don't even mention it." I couldn't believe it. It all seemed so real. I knew it wasn't though. Ha, take that unconscious-me.

"Well then, if you're up for that challenge…" I closed my eyes, waiting to wake up. This was too surreal to be anything but a dream. After five minutes or so, he was still there, staring at me with raised eyebrows. Okay, I was ready to wake up now.

"Hey, Miles, you will not believe what I just… uh, oh, sorry I didn't… I…" My eyes snapped wide open as I heard Brooke's voice. I had just been looking at this gorgeous man and suddenly Brooke was behind him. Oh my god… I blushed so bad, I thought my face would fall off. This did not happen. I gulped and looked down, my mouth hanging wide open. Okay, I was going to die of embarrassment any time now.

"Uhm… am I interrupting something?" The tone in her voice was easily recognized and I thought my face was on fire without chance of being put out. I was so embarrassed. This god had just talked to me and said all those nice things and I had been anything but nice in return. I'd been snappy. Oh dear lord…

"No, not at all… I was just talking to Miley. She thinks that there's only black and white in this world and I am trying to-" But I didn't let him finish. You see, I had already embarrassed myself all the way to the bone so this little move didn't matter. I had thrown my hands over his mouth, stopping him from talking. Brooke didn't need to know everything.

"He was just asking me for our homework." Brooke raised her eyebrows suspiciously but didn't say anything. I knew I would have to tell her at some point or another that Nick Jonas had basically told me that he liked me and that he would do anything to convince me so. He would also do anything to show me that the world was also grey. Oh my god, I had to digest this… or throw up.

"You know, for a minute it looked like you were about to kiss but…" Okay, too much information and suddenly, my stomach was thinking for me. There was just too much going on. Too much had happened and suddenly, it just all came rushing back to me. And then, there I was, throwing up at the feet of the most beautiful guy in school.

Brooke gasped in shock but Nick reacted in a way I wouldn't have expected him to. He pulled my hair back and rubbed my back. He. Rubbed. My. Freaking. Back. What the hell was going on? Brooke gasped again and then she was gone. Oh thanks, friend. I would have rolled my eyes but I was busy throwing up so… yeah.

After a few moments I was done showing Nick my breakfast and sat back. I wiped my mouth embarrassed – I seemed to feel that way a lot these days… - and bit my lip. Then I turned away from him and sighed. This day was getting worse and worse by the second. I didn't count the time Nick told me he liked me, just so you know.

"Uh… sorry for… you know. I just… gosh, I don't know." He chuckled and I just knew he shrugged as well. I still couldn't believe this. This was all happening too fast. One minute I'm thinking last week was either not real or just a spur of the moment thing and the next he's next to me and telling me all these things.

He seemed like he wanted to say something but suddenly, all that seemed to come out of his mouth was a loud, very annoying ring. I frowned as it kept going. What was going on now? Was I going mental after all? The ringing just wouldn't stop coming out of his stupid mouth. Not that his mouth was stupid. Just the noise coming out of it was annoyingly stupid.

"Miley… Miles…" I groaned and rubbed a hand over my eyes. And suddenly, it felt like the world had just turned from pitch black to very bright. I shook my head slowly and then looked up. As I saw that instead of Nick there was Brooke kneeling next to me, I almost wanted to cry out of frustration. That hadn't all been a dream, right?

I looked to the ground next to Brooke and saw that there was not the content of my stomach. I had thrown up there, I could remember. I quickly tasted my mouth but there was no gross after-taste. I looked to my other side to check it maybe, Nick was on the other side, but no, he wasn't. I realized then that I had been dreaming after all.

"Oh god…" Brooke put a hand to my forehead obviously to see if I had a fever. But I felt fine except for the fact that I was going crazy.

"Are you alright? I found you sleeping here and thought that you might be sick. Demi was about to call the nurse but I sent her away. I mean, she was all fuzzy and I knew you wouldn't want her to start waving her hands around your face all the time. So, are you alright?" I sighed. So I had been dreaming. I knew this would be too good to be true.

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine. I may need a cigarette though. And what was that ringing noise?" Brooke chuckled and handed me a cigarette.

"That was the warning bell. You still got five minute. Enough time for this." I smiled and stuffed the cigarette in my mouth. Just as I was about to light it, I was looking around the squad and caught Nick's eye. For a moment, he didn't seem to realize he was looking at me and I was still slightly upset that my dream had just been that; a dream.

But then he shook his head, acted as if he were holding a cigarette in his mouth, pretending to smoke it, and then shook his head again. I swear I saw him mouth 'unhealthy' as well. I looked at my cigarette, then back at him and then back at the cigarette. I threw it away, into the grass and glanced back up at him. He smiled at me, showed me a thumps up and winked at me.

I blushed and looked back at Brooke who was looking at me rather… thrown off, I suppose. I shrugged and stood up, rubbing my butt to get the dirt off my jeans. She handed me my bag and steadied me as I started swaying a bit. I was a little dizzy after all. I slung my bag over my shoulder and looked back to see if Nick was still there. He wasn't.

"What was that about? You just threw away a perfectly good cigarette." I shrugged again and started to walk away, only once glancing back at the place I had just sat at.

"It's not allowed to smoke on the school grounds anyway." I felt like Alice in Wonderland who fell asleep on her sister reading to her a book without pictures. I was in this dream world where everything seemed perfect. And then I was awoken by my sister – well, best friend but you get the picture – and realized it all was too good to be true. I mean, just think of my throwing up as the Heart Queen. It's perfect.

Brooke looked at me suspiciously again, much like dream-Brooke did, but then she shrugged and linked arms with me. I smiled at her timidly before we walked into the school building, getting ready for the other half of the school day. I would just have to get through this again and then through another afternoon of my awful job, then I'd finally get to have two days off. Two days without people making fun of me, two days without drama… and two days without Nick.

Oh how wrong and naïve I was…

* * *

**So, there you have it ;) Okay, my plan for this story is to update it every Sunday so that I have a nice pattern and enough time to write. If I have a problem with updating on a Sunday, you'll probably find out on Twitter why (cloudyxrainbow). I tend to tweet about what's happening and I tend to explain why I can't update on there. Oh, while I'm at it... I might not be able to update next Sunday (better yet the whole weekend, actually) and if you want to find out why... well, follow me on Twitter ;)**

**Okay, so that's that... do you like my planned pattern for this story or do you want me to change it? Sunday just seems pretty solid and a nice day to update. Tell me what you think. **

**Thanks for reading this and I hope you enjoyed. Let me know in a review :) Thanks again :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Did you ever have this moment where your mind started overworking without you wanting it to? Like, you're sitting in class and suddenly, you start thinking about things that just don't matter or even scare you or something like that. Yeah? Well, I tend to do that a lot. And I tend to do that in the most unfortunate times possible.

Like, right now. I mean, it's bad enough that it's cold. It's even worse that it's dark. Add the fact that I'm alone and there are a lot of creepy people passing by and suddenly, there's my overactive mind again. Just think what could happen to me right now. I could freeze to death. I could fall asleep and never wake up. I could get raped!

And I don't even know which of those is worse. I mean, sure, they're all bad but really, what would you rather have happening to you? I sure as hell don't know especially because, I could get raped, then fall asleep, freeze to death while doing so and never wake up. How bad can this turn out? And getting raped by one of those old, creepy and drunk guys is not a very rosy thing to think about.

Getting raped by anyone is not a rosy thing to think about… but really, if the guy's all and creepy and… no, I have got to stop thinking about this. Damn Ed for making me work late at night. That little creep somehow found out that 'I' had dropped the flyers in the trashcan somehow. Even if I would have argued and said that Nick had been the one to do that, it wouldn't have worked.

Obviously, he wouldn't believe me if I told him. Why would Nick Jonas help Miley Stewart getting rid of some uninteresting flyers? Exactly, no reason at all. That's the problem. If I had argued with him, he would have thought me crazy or delusional. So I didn't and took it like a man… well, woman… or girl.

His 'punishment' for me was to send me to a dark alley in the middle of the night on a Friday evening. I could be out partying, according to Bernd, but because I was naïve enough to think that he wouldn't find out about me dropping the flyers I couldn't. If Bernd only knew that I wasn't partying. I have never been to a party… never even been invited. I probably have never even been considered to be invited.

It wouldn't have bothered me at all that I had to work in the middle of the night. But it bothered me that the alley was really dark, as in there were no street lights or anything close to that. Just the occasional light of a lighter for a cigarette (caused by me) or the moon. It hadn't occurred to me that I could just hold the lighter up all the time.

Then again, it would stop working after some time as well. And I'd rather be able to smoke while living this hell instead of see something and not smoke, you know? Especially if this something is scary as shit. Like this alley I'm in right now. Hell, this freaking little road seems better dark than with some light. It would seem even creepier.

But what is a seventeen-year-old girl like me to do when she's bored, waiting for someone – and at this point, I didn't care who – to pass by and take a freaking flyer before she could leave? Yeah, I couldn't think of anything either. I was just really… scared, I suppose. Well, obviously I was scared, who was I kidding?

Now, thinking about it, why would Ed make me work in a lonely alley like that in the middle of the street? Did he seriously think I would get rid of this shit… during the night? While everybody else was freaking asleep, just like I wanted to be? God, that boy was becoming crazier by the second… or millisecond or something like that.

So, you see, standing there, all I could think about were irrelevant things. But that's just how my mind works. One of the reasons why I did not notice someone walking up to me. It would have been major creepy but I wasn't even paying attention, I was too worried about Ed's mental health at that moment. So clearly, I jumped out of my skin when that creepy person tapped my shoulder.

"Jesus, I have the black belt in any kind of self-defense sport you can think of so back off, dude!" One thing I learned having to hand out flyers was to lie to no end. I couldn't even name one 'self-defense sport', that was such an unbelievable lie, really. But I just thought that it would maybe scare that dude off. But he didn't even budge.

"Sorry, sorry… I just wanted to know what you were doing here in the middle of the night." My eyes widened as I whirled around. Since it was dark, I couldn't see who it was but that voice is recognizable anywhere. I lit my lighter and stared at him shocked.

"I… uh, I'm working… and you?" How lame, Miley, really. I knew that this was real because if I had fallen asleep I would be dead, for sure. Unlike the dream I had this morning, obviously. He chuckled a little.

"Just passing by because that's not creepy and all. Why are you working so late in an alley so… dark and alone? I thought it was your job to hand out flyers to people… it's not really a profit for the company if you're… well, here." I blushed a little. It was actually pretty funny because I was incredibly cold. But the heat was still rising to my face; out of embarrassment and slight anger – towards Ed, mind you.

"Well, my dear boss thought it was funny for punishing me. So here I am, on a Friday night, trying to hand out flyers that nobody in this freaking town cares about!" He chuckled again, though now he looked confused.

"Why is he punishing you?" I bit my lip and looked away, even though looking at him was pretty hard to do when you can't see anything. If I told him that it was practically his fault that I'm here, he would probably feel guilty. Then again, he was supposed to be a jerk to me so maybe he won't care at all.

"Well, remember how you threw my flyers into the trashcan back when it was pouring? Yeah, Ed found out. I don't know how that creep found out but he did and he thinks I threw them in there and because he would never believe me if I told him that it was you I just took the punishment like a man… uh, woman." Nick was quiet for some time and since I was scared he'd left and I just hadn't heard it, I lit up the lighter and looked at him. He was frowning.

I just kept on staring at him while he seemed to be thinking or worrying about something. Was he actually feeling guilty now? Hm, that's interesting. After some time he looked at me and smiled a guilty smile.

"I'm sorry… I didn't think he'd find that out. Well, how can I help you now? Since throwing them away isn't an option, clearly?" My mouth fell open slightly. It wasn't attractive but I couldn't get my jaw to move upwards. I just stared at him for some time, stunned that he'd actually help me out. I shrugged after two minutes or so.

"I don't know… I only get to leave when I've handed out all the flyers… and that's obviously not happening tonight. I'll probably leave in the morning or so, when people start to decide it was time to get up and do something with their lives. I mean, seriously, who sleeps at midnight on a Friday night? Not me, because I'm freaking handing out flyers about… oh, about a pig show! Who would even plan an event like this? That's just gross, letting pigs walk around like that, presenting them to the whole world… oh, I'm rambling, sorry." Nick chuckled and smiled again, this time a normal smile. A smile that either said 'you're funny' or 'you're cute'.

Since this was Nick smiling like that I was pretty sure that it was the first option. He wouldn't find me cute – no way. I blushed and looked away. The soft light the lighter was making was making Nick look way too gorgeous for his own good.

"I think I have an idea." I turned back to him and raised my eyebrows as he walked away. Oh goodie, his idea would be to leave me to my own misery. Not like I expected him to actually help me. I sighed and blew the lighter out. After ten seconds I could hear footsteps. I lit the lighter again to see Nick walking up to me. Well, he looked like he was walking past me. And then he did actually walk by me, not even glancing at me. O…kay?

But after two more steps he stopped, let out a sigh and turned to me again. Was he annoyed now? What did I even do? He walked up to me and stuck out his hand towards me. I looked at it confused. What was he on now? He chuckled as he realized that I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

"I'm the people that you are supposed to hand out the flyers to. Give me one." I was still confused but handed him one of those things anyway. He smiled and then walked away around the nearby corner. Soon enough, he walked by again. He stuck his hand out again, waiting for me to place a flyer in there. I smiled confused and handed him one. This went on for some time until I had ten flyers left while Nick had the rest.

By then I had realized what he was doing. When he said 'I'm the _people_' he actually meant he would take the flyers one by one, pretending to be someone else every time. Of course, he wasn't and he didn't even do anything to look like someone else, but the gesture was nice. He walked by again and this time, I handed him two flyers. That made him stop, confused.

"Why two?" I smiled at him and shrugged.

"Maybe for your sister, cousin, aunt, uncle… anyone who might be interested." He actually laughed a little and then kept on doing his walking thing. It took some time until every flyer was 'handed out' but at one in the morning we were finally done. I smiled happily even though I knew I was cheating and sighed.

Nick walked up to me with the stack of flyers and smiled. What would he do with those now? But I didn't want to ask right now. I just wanted to enjoy not having to hold those things in my hands. I smiled back at him gratefully.

"Thank you so much… I'm so tired…" He kept on smiling as we started walking. Every now and then we would walk by a trashcan and he would drop a few flyers in there. Oh, smart. That way it wouldn't look too suspicious. Anyone could have thrown them in there. Ed wouldn't know a thing. If it had been the whole stack it would have been 'obvious'. Even though last time it wasn't even me.

"So, tell me, why did your boss think that it would be a good and smart punishment to let you hand out flyers in that alley in the middle of a Friday night? A night when everybody's out partying, by the way." I smiled a little and shrugged.

"That's why. Because everybody's partying. Ed thinks I'm one of those people. He thinks that I'd be out in some club, dancing like crazy and getting drunk with friends. In actuality, my Friday nights are pretty boring. All I would have done tonight was my homework. Then I would have watched some movie and then I would have gone to bed. So practically, Ed did me a favor…" Oh, that was not supposed to come out. Too much information and the last sentence was actually just an added thought to… well, my thoughts.

If Ed hadn't punished me on that Friday, Nick wouldn't have helped me out and then we wouldn't be talking. So practically, Ed really had done me a favor. But since Nick didn't know what I'd been thinking he was pretty confused about my last statement.

"He… did you a favor?" I blushed – which I did way too often when Nick was around – and shrugged.

"Well… he gave me something to do on a Friday night. Like I said, my nights are pretty boring." Nick looked at me suspiciously but shrugged. Only then did I realize that Nick – who I thought was one of those people that Ed thought I was – was not in some club partying but here with me. What was up with that?

"Uh, not be invade your personal space or anything but why were you here? I mean, you know, not partying and talking to me… that's not really a hobby you want to have… or keep." Nick laughed, obviously finding what I said humorous. I was actually being honest, though.

"I don't know why you find yourself so… not in the picture…" I turned to give him a pointed look.

"I don't know if you've noticed… but I'm not 'in the picture'. I'm not in the in-crowd. I don't party. I study and still get average grades. I'm not skinny. I'm not perfect. Talking about being perfect, nobody's perfect, I know that. But it seems that your posse thinks they are which makes me not perfect because I'm not boney or something like that. And I'm rambling again. I only do that when I'm nervous… not that you're making me nervous or anything." He smirked at me but then shrugged.

"You're right… nobody's perfect…" Well, that was not really the information I was going for. I still didn't know why he was here.

"Yeah, I know I'm right. But you haven't answered my question." He looked at me 'confused'. Honestly, he wasn't confused, he was avoiding answering my question.

"What question?" I rolled my eyes slightly.

"Why are you here? Why did you help me? I know you know I didn't ask the latter but I wanna know anyway." He chuckled and then ran a hand through his hair. Hottest thing ever, honestly.

"Well… why was I here? I just… I was passing by?" I raised my eyebrows. I would have believed him anyway… except that. Passing by in one of the 'ghettos' in this town would be as much a lie as him saying he actually likes me.

"Right… why do I not believe you?" He sighed and bit his lip slightly.

"Because I'm lying. Okay, what I'm about to tell you, nobody in our school knows, okay? You're the first person to find out and… just please, don't tell anyone else." I nodded, kind of intimidated by this. He would tell me a secret? A secret that really nobody on this world knows about? Except maybe the people that might be involved?

"I swear… I promise I won't tell." He smiled at me slightly and then sighed again. We were still walking, but way slower than before.

"I… live here." And suddenly, I wasn't walking anymore. I was shocked so I stopped. He stopped too and turned to me. He then frowned once he saw my big eyes.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, but I do. I'm an orphan and I live in an orphanage. There, I said it. And the only orphanage in this town is here. I'm not even rich, like everyone thinks I am. I barely have anything and that's why I was walking around here. Usually I do party on Friday nights just to get away from reality but I didn't this night because… well, I don't really know.

I like school because I'm someone else there. And if people ever found out that I wasn't who they think I am they would just cut me off or something. I wouldn't matter anymore like…" I smiled a little as he said that. I knew what he was going to say. I also knew that he didn't mean to.

"Like me… yeah… Not to matter isn't always that funny…" I looked down as Nick frowned at me.

"I'm sorry… I…" I shook my head because I knew that he didn't mean for it to sound like that. I also knew that he was honestly scared of not mattering anymore.

"No, I'm sorry… I'm sorry you lost your parents… you did, right?" He sighed and then chuckled a little. I guess he knew that I knew that he didn't mean it like that.

"Uhm… yeah, I did. They… died in a car accident when I was five. People didn't know me back there. When I was ten I saw an orphan getting bullied because they had no parents or money. I didn't want that to happen to me so I made up something. Now people think that I'm dirty rich, that I live in a big house with a happy family." I frowned a little.

"I'm really sorry. I lost my dad to someone else." Nick frowned confused. Yeah, it did sound confusing. I wanted it to.

"What?" I giggled quietly.

"My dad left us… for someone else. I talk to him occasionally but… he's a prick." Nick just looked at me apologetically.

"Why did he just leave?" I shrugged.

"I guess he found it more important to be with his boyfriend than with his family." Nick's eyes widened and he slightly chocked on himself. Yeah, that was about my reaction. Who would have thought my dad was gay, right? Not me and Mom, for sure. Dad was normal for the longest time and suddenly, one day, he came home and said 'I'm sorry, Liz… Miley… but I have a boyfriend and I plan to move in with him.'

Only after he said he had a boyfriend did I realize how he had changed over the years. It wasn't obvious or much, really. Just the little things. He had suddenly talked to me about clothes and what was in. That was just one thing that I could have noticed but didn't. I was surprised that he suddenly cared about that, yes, but I didn't worry about it.

Anyway, Mom was of course heartbroken and confused. She then started to change herself – no, she didn't become a lesbian… I think, anyway – she just started to become more like a very crazy woman also known as my best friend. I don't really have a problem with it. Except when she gets angry of course, but doesn't have a problem with their mother when she gets angry?

"Your… your dad has a boyfriend?" I smiled and nodded. Nick sounded pretty shocked.

"Yeah… it was pretty… weird at first and he distanced himself quickly so we pretty much lost any connection we ever had. But it was okay. He was weird anyway." At that point I was lying. I missed my dad… my _old _dad. The one that would tuck me in at night and kiss my forehead. The one that would sing me to sleep even though he could not hold a note for a second.

"Well, I'm sorry anyway…" I giggled a little and shrugged.

"It's okay, really. From time to time we still talk to each other over the phone. But I haven't seen him for about four years now. I only heard that my dad and his boyfriend are trying to get married. But they have some problems with that right now… or something like that, at least." Nick smiled a little as we stopped walking at a corner. He looked back down the road we just walked down and sighed a little.

"Should I walk you home? I mean, I suppose it's a longer walk?" I bit my lip and nodded.

"Yes, it is a longer walk… if you want to. But then you'll have to walk home alone?" He shrugged and started walking again.

"I don't care… I have to walk down there a lot, you know? And something bad could happen to you so… let's just not risk you getting raped if you walk alone." That convinced me.

"Thanks…" We walk in silence for some time. It was nice, knowing there was someone there who would protect me if something was to happen to me. Which of course made me wonder… why would he offer to protect me?

"Uhm… Nick, I hope you don't find this rude or something… but why are you being nice to me? I mean, I'm no one and you're… you." He chuckled and shrugged.

"I just don't know why we should judge everyone and put them into those labeled boxes. At least not just from the way they look. If their character sucks then fine, label them but not because they're over-weight or not skinny enough. And you're nice and I don't see a reason why I shouldn't be nice to you." I sighed a little.

"Then why do you care about what others think? Why do you hang out with people that label everyone as soon as they as much as catch a glimpse of them?" Nick shrugged.

"I don't know, really. I guess, it's my pride, you know? I'm scared of disappointments and rejections. I'm scared that… that I'll be all alone. I don't mean to be mean to those who are labeled 'losers' or to those who are just simply outsiders. I don't know why I hang out with people like that but they make me feel like I'm actually needed in this world… I know it sounds lame…" I shook my head. This guy was making me melt to the floor, seriously.

"No, it's not lame… it's normal. Everybody wants to fit in. Just not everybody is able to. You… you would have fitted in anyway." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"And why is that?" I shrugged a little.

"Well, for one, you're hot… oh, wait…" I blushed furiously. That was not supposed to come out that way. I wanted to say that he wasn't 'too hard to look at' or something like that. I wanted to say it in a way that wouldn't exactly give away that I thought he was hot after all. Now he knew… great…

"Oh really…?" I bit my lip.

"Oh, you know what I mean… right? Gosh, it probably sounds like I'm coming on to you but I swear I'm not… I mean, not that I wouldn't want to… okay, I'm talking myself in a mess here… Oh, look, there's my house!" I let out an almost relieved sigh as I actually saw my house coming into view. Nick looked ahead and chuckled a little.

"I'm getting the feeling that I actually do make you nervous." I blushed and giggled a little.

"Maybe a bit… but who wouldn't? You're Nick Jonas… you're Mr. Popular. And, like I said, you're hot." He chuckled again and shook his head, amused by what I was saying… I hoped.

"You're funny, Miley." I blushed. Come on, you hear your name being said by your crush, you'd blush too.

"Why do you know my name?" I know that it was a weird question and I could've asked in a different way but I didn't. I just wanted to know. Straight forward and all that…, you know?

"What?... Well, I notice you. In class, in breaks… when you walk home, all alone. With your friends… I mean, really, who doesn't know Brooke? And everyone who knows Brooke knows her friends." He sounded kind of panic-y so I assumed that what he just said wasn't the complete truth. But I didn't care; he said he'd noticed me. I was practically freaking out inside.

"Oh… can I ask you one last question before I go inside?" We were now standing in front of my house. I wouldn't let this get awkward. I've heard that after first dates saying 'goodnight' would be awkward. Except that this wasn't a date. And I wouldn't let it be awkward.

"Sure." I smiled a little, now starting to get sadder by the second.

"Why are you only nice to me when we're alone? Why are you only talking to me when we're alone?" Nick sighed and rubbed his eyes. Oh no, now I was annoying him. So basically, he'll never talk to me again, not even when we're alone. I knew we shouldn't have asked. But see, this way saying 'goodnight' wouldn't be awkward.

"I don't know… I just… this is going to sound rude, but you asked… I'm just scared that they'll all push me away when they see me talking to you. I know it's childish and I shouldn't think like that. But I'm not as strong as you think I am." I rolled my eyes. For a moment I forgot who I was and who he was and touched his arms, squeezing his muscles.

"Right, you're not strong at all." Only then did I realize what exactly I was doing and blushed again. He chuckled and grinned at me, almost smirked.

"Well, anything to touch my muscles, right? No, I'm kidding…you know what I mean, though, right?" sighed and nodded, still blushing furiously.

"Yean, and I'm not mad or anything. I get it. So… off you go, back to your popularity. And I'll get back to my misery." He frowned at me and shook his head.

"No, wait… listen… I won't be like this again… like I am in school… I won't just talk to you when we're alone. I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to be the guy that you can go to whenever you want to and talk to." I stared at him some time, then I pinched myself. Then I pinched him and then myself again. Okay, this wasn't a dream because the pinches actually hurt and I saw Nick wince when I did pinch him.

"Well… uh, okay… anyway, I gotta go now. See ya… later." I smiled and turned around. He caught my wrist and turned me around… only to plant a small and soft kiss on my cheek. Oh dear lord… I blushed again as he winked at me and walked away. I heard him whisper a soft 'goodnight' just before he did leave.

"Goodnight…" I said to nothing at all and smiled. He helped me again. He helped me get rid of my flyers, he walked me home, told me a secret about himself that not even his friends know and… he kissed my cheek. I think today was the best day of my life… excluding this morning of course… I would go to bed as a happy girl for once.

Who knew I would wake up to someone I was not expecting knocking on my bedroom door?

* * *

**I'm soooo sorry that I didn't update the last three Sundays! I wasn't home... which sort of sucked and then again not.. because I was doing something that I love very much :) Ninepins... don't know it? Look it up ^^ Anyway, I hope this made up for the last three Sundays... And yeah, sort of a mean little cliffhanger but I have to keep you on your toes, don't I? ;) Okay, thanks for reading and I hope you liked it... and once again, I'm soo sorry I couldn't update the last three Sundays... go on, hate on me ;P**


	5. Chapter 5 Part 1

I've had moments in my life where I'd either try to wake up because I thought I was dreaming or where I wanted to jump out of the window to see if it actually hurt and then wake up. Sometimes, I've had those moments where I wanted to just die right there because I've embarrassed myself so bad. Like one time, my pants kind of just… well, they slipped off my legs.

Let's just say that I've been standing in a hallway full of people with nothing but my panties on. Of course, that had been so embarrassing that I had not gone to school for two weeks. People had enough reasons to hate me as it was, I didn't need them to mention that too. Thankfully, after those two weeks, the incident – as I like to call it – was long forgotten and instead they were picking on some other poor girl that had spilled water over her pants, making it look like she'd peed herself.

Anyway, you know, those moments. It was a normal Saturday morning, as I would have thought if it actually were. But it wasn't. Actually, it was the weirdest Saturday morning in a long time, say, my whole life. It hadn't been the fact that I didn't like the change or just about the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me. It was the fact that I was not expecting it at all, I was wearing way too short clothes and I thought I looked like the living dead.

On this not-so-normal Saturday morning, someone knocked on my bedroom door. I didn't think it would be someone important, actually I just thought it was my mom. She would be the only person up at this ungodly hour. So groggily, I made my way over to the door and opened it, without looking up at the person, who I assumed was my mother.

I just walked back to my bed and let myself fall face first onto it again. I groaned loudly and then pulled the blanket over me. I could only hear the muffled chuckles of my rude intruder, who still up until this point was my mom to me. They sat down on my bed and shook me gently. I almost growled at them but refrained to do so. It wasn't nice to growl at people.

Then again, it wasn't nice to just wake them up like that so early in the morning. It was like, 6 o'clock or so. I buried my head further into the pillow and sighed, almost contently. I could feel a hand rubbing up and down my back slowly. If this person was trying to wake me then they were doing a pretty good job at it. I couldn't concentrate or even as much as think to fall asleep.

"Ugh, what is it?" The person stopped moving their hand for a second and slowly pulled the blankets off me. My head had been hidden until then and now the sun was piercing into my eyes. I groaned again but didn't do anything else. Could they just say what they needed to and then leave?

"Seriously, what is it? I wanna sleep…" It came out pretty slurred which I found funny, so I giggled a little. Then I realized how drunk I must have sounded and blushed. The person chuckled too. This time the chuckle was not muffled so I heard it loud and clearly. Okay, it definitely was not my mom. And it was not Brooke or Demi.

Actually, it was a pretty manly chuckle. A manly but quiet chuckle. I knew that chuckle. And after I had realized exactly who that chuckle belonged to, I flushed so red I thought my hair would burn off my head out of pure embarrassment and the heat I was feeling at that moment. I slowly lifted my head and stared at the guy in front of me. How the hell did he get in?

"I wanted to take you somewhere today. But it's quite the drive so we need an early start." I just nodded, to enhanced with him, with the situation. What was he even saying?

"How did you even get in?" He chuckled and brushed a strand of hair out of my face. Was I dreaming again? No, I just woke up, I couldn't be dreaming. In dreams, you never feel this tired when you wake up. It was real. Just for good measure I pinched myself, earning another chuckle. Okay, this was real, that really hurt.

"Your mom let me in… Of course she was confused for a moment but then she grinned at me and ushered me up here so quickly I was almost getting dizzy." I smiled a little. Yeah, my mom. She'd do anything to get me and a boy… well, together in any way. I don't know why she was so out to get me to date _anyone _that she would send some boy she didn't know up here.

I mean, I barely knew him. I just knew that he was gorgeous beyond belief, that he lived in some sort of ghetto, that his parents had died when he was five and that he was scared of not mattering to anyone anymore. One day I would tell him that he would always matter to me. It would probably be the day when we graduated and went our separate ways or something like that.

"Well, that's my mom." He chuckled and was quiet for some time. Then my eyes widened suddenly and I jumped out of my bed. I hadn't been this fast this early in the morning ever before. Nick, who turned out to be my intruder, jumped back and watched me run into the bathroom. I quickly grabbed my toothbrush and some toothpaste and started brushing my teeth. What? I had a bad case of morning breath, nobody would want to smell that. Especially not Nick.

"Oh, that's what's going on…" Nick laughed a little as I spit out some toothpaste and continued brushing. I blushed a little but shrugged.

"Well, it's really bad…" Nick shook his head though and walked into the bathroom, leaning against the counter that had the sink in it, watching me intently. How awkward was that? He watched me brush my teeth. He shouldn't even see me like that. I quickly spit out for the last time and rinsed my mouth. Only then did I realize what I was wearing.

I turned to him slowly and blushed once again. My shorts were… really short. They were from back when I was like, ten or so. My shirt wasn't as short but it would still count as kids' size. Nick raised his eyebrows and winked at me. I bit my lip a little and slipped past him back into my room. Thank god I was wearing a bra.

I heard him laugh again but just ignored it as I grabbed out a shirt that I thought looked nice. Then I stopped and stared at the shirt for a moment. Would it be warm outside? I couldn't just wear a shirt and have it be cold. That would suck. I put the shirt on my bed and grabbed a fitting sweater as well. I'd ask Nick whenever he decided to come out here.

Before I grabbed something to wear for my legs – I wasn't sure whether to wear long pants or short – I quickly grabbed some long old-ass sweater and threw it over me before walking into the bathroom once again. I would just ask him what I should wear since he wanted to take me somewhere and I assumed he would know what to wear. And I would not walk into the bathroom looking like I did again. It was just too embarrassing.

"Uhm, Nick… what should I wear? I mean, it's pretty early and I don't know whether it will be warm or not or if it will rain or not. And I don't know where we're going so… you know, just tell me what to wear." Nick looked at me for a few moments, then he smirked a little as he looked me up and down.

"Well, you could just wear that too, you know?" I blushed a little and rolled my eyes. The sweater was old and long but it just reached about mid-thigh so it didn't really cover anything. Still, I shook my head and pulled down on it a little.

"I'm serious." Nick chuckled.

"Me too… no, uhm… I think it's gonna be pretty hot today. So, I don't know what you want to wear. But you're going to need something to get wet." I raised my eyebrows and looked at him questioningly. He just shook his head and shrugged a little. I smiled slightly and nodded before I walked out of the bathroom. Just as I was about to close the door, I turned back around to look at him.

"Uh, I'm about to change so… please stay in here. I know, it's weird and kinda awkward but what you do expect from me? I am weird after all." Nick chuckled and nodded while running a hand through his hair as I closed the door. I closed my eyes and leaned against the door. What the hell was happening? It seemed pretty logical to me that this couldn't be real.

At least not in real life. In movies something like that would happen. In movies, the poor wallflower would get the super hot popular-guy. But this wasn't a movie, so why was this happening? I actually didn't want it to be happening. Then again, I did. It was all so confusing. Maybe I should just enjoy it as long as it lasted. So sighing, I pushed myself off the door and quickly changed into the things I'd picked out.

I ended up pulling the fitting sweater over the shirt I had picked out. I could just take it off if I got too hot. I put on shorts because if it really got hot, shorts were always awesome, obviously. With a pair of sneakers, my look was completed and I smiled a little. My hair looked kind of okay, considering that I had just gotten out of bed.

Bed hair didn't automatically mean bad hair. I blew out a breath before I opened the door to the bathroom and walked past Nick who had been looking at his hands. I walked up to the mirror and wanted to grab my make-up stuff but suddenly Nick had caught my wrist. I looked at him confused through the mirror but he just shook his head.

"No… you don't need that." I rolled my eyes a little but shrugged. As he let go of my wrist I quickly grabbed some stuff – just basic things, really, to get a neutral look – and giggled slightly at his almost annoyed look. Obviously, he was just playing that as he shot me a little smile as I applied all this stuff. How awkward this had to look.

I mean, not only was Nick watching me put on make-up, he had seen me all tired and sleepy, he had probably got to smell my morning breath and he had seen me in my weird pajama. And all that while he was barely my friend. It was too unrealistic. How could this be real? But it was, I had pinched myself a few times while getting dressed just to make sure it was in fact real.

"Do you really need to put on all this stuff?" I shrugged as I put everything back in place. I turned to him as he crossed his arms.

"Well, yeah, I think I do. I mean… I'm not really a natural beauty, you know?" Nick sighed as we finally walked out of my bathroom. It was almost seven as we made our way downstairs. I wanted breakfast and I didn't care how much time I would waste. All the teeth-brushing would not work if I didn't get to eat anything.

"Well, you obviously don't have high expectations on yourself then." I rolled my eyes slightly as we walked into the kitchen. Mom smiled at me – a very knowing smile, I might add – as I walked to the fridge. I rolled my eyes at her and then opened the refrigerator. She quickly got up and walked up to me.

"So, who's your friend?" I sighed annoyed and shook my head again.

"It's… he's not really a friend… barely anyway. It's… his name is Nick." Mom nodded and quickly grabbed something to make it look like she had not just asked me about him. Nick knew that she did though, I could see it in his eyes. He smirked a little.

"Do you want something to eat Nick?" But he shook his head and just smiled again, a little. I nodded and made myself a sandwich rather quickly. Instead of taking my time though I just stuffed into my mouth like nothing, probably looking pretty disgusting right now. I didn't care though. I just wanted to leave the kitchen before Mom could even think about asking Nick anything.

"Okay, Mom, we'll leave now. Uh… see you later." She obviously wanted to say something but I pulled Nick out of the kitchen before she could even say goodbye. Nick chuckled as I pulled him out of the house as quickly as I could. I blushed as we finally stopped walking.

"Well… she's my mom… and she's embarrassing." Nick smiled at me but I could see his smile wasn't as big as I would have thought it was. And just like that I frowned and threw my head back, groaning quietly.

"S… Sorry, I didn't… well, I.." Nick shrugged and shook his head slightly. I still felt bad about it. I mean, it seemed almost mean to just talk about my mom like that when he didn't even have one to begin with.

"It's okay… really, it is. Don't you think that my friends might also talk about their parents? And they don't know that I don't have any parents. So really, I'm used to it. Don't feel bad." I smiled a little and nodded. Nick motioned towards his car, probably to tell me to get in. I wanted to open the car door for myself but Nick beat me to it. He smirked at me and I blushed but rolled my eyes before I got in. As he finally sat down next to me, he turned to look at me too.

"You roll your eyes… a lot. I heard it's not healthy." I looked at him interested.

"Oh, really? How could it be unhealthy to roll your eyes?" Nick chuckled as he started the engine. We drove off, with me not paying attention to the road at all. Nick's eyes jumped over to me from time to time.

"Well, for starters, people will think you're annoyed with them which will make them annoyed with you which might lead to fighting or loneliness which might lead to emotional pain. And, I heard that every time you roll your eyes, a few brain cells explode or something like that. So, it just makes you dumb, really." I raised my eyebrows as he grinned at me before settling his eyes back on the road.

"So basically you're saying that I'm dumb?" He almost forgot that he was driving apparently because the car jumped and we jerked forward. I giggled at his shocked expression. Was he really shocked that he'd hurt my feelings? Aw, that was cute… and shocking.

"Uh, what? No… I, no, definitely not… I just, uh… I was just saying that I heard that it might make people dumb… I just…" I almost laughed out loud at his stuttering. Out of pure instinct – and because I forgot who I was yet again – I put my hand on his thigh to calm him down. I wasn't sure why I needed to calm him down but I just felt like I had to.

"Hey, it's cool, I was just kidding." Nick looked like… was he blushing? Oh wow… I made him blush. That's funny and… weird. But what about this Saturday wasn't weird? I would say about nothing. Everything was weird as long as it concerned Nick being nice to me, or Nick caring about me… wanting to do something with me. That was all weird. And now he was blushing?

"Well.. okay…" I giggled a little and then turned my head to look out of the window. The sun was kind of red right now. I smiled contently. It wasn't a full smile, with teeth and all. Just the smile you would imagine on someone who was extremely happy at the moment. I guess I was. I sighed a little and closed my eyes. It was quiet in the car for some time until I heard a soft whisper from beside me.

"So perfect…" I slowly turned towards Nick as his head snapped forward. I looked at him questioningly. What was perfect?

"What?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at me. I suppose he tried to look as if he hadn't just said anything. But I wasn't deaf, he should know that.

"Uhm… nothing?" I rolled my eyes again and Nick smirked at me as I did that. I sighed and smiled slightly at him.

"I heard you loud and clearly. You said 'so perfect'. What's so perfect?" Nick blushed yet again and looked back at the road.

"Uh… the sun was… I mean, you know, the way it looks red but also kind of not… I don't know… I just…" I looked at him, still confused but he just shrugged. I let it be and turned back to look out the window. I smiled as I closed my eyes. I guess I fell asleep after that because it got pretty darn dark all of the sudden.

* * *

"Can I open them yet? Please?" Nick chuckled as he lead me… somewhere. The only thing that I noticed right about now was that his fingers were intertwined with mine. He had put a blindfold on me. I didn't even know why. I mean, I had no idea where we were… I mean, I could have known but obviously, I didn't because of the blindfold.

Anyway, Nick had grabbed my hand and gently intertwined our fingers. My heart was beating so fast I could hear and feel it in my ears. I had been asking him to tell me where we were going for the longest time but he just wouldn't say. I was actually starting to get pissed off. But it was Nick, so I refrained myself from any curse words. As long as he thought I was cute and nice it would all be alright.

I could feel some grass hitting my legs every once in a while so I was assuming we were on some kind of field or something. Then again, we could be anywhere. I never knew my way around town. Embarrassing if you think about it since I've been living here for seventeen years now. But at the moment I didn't really give a flying fuck. I was with Nick; I couldn't start feeling embarrassed for not knowing my way around my hometown now.

The air was getting kind of dry. I found that kinda weird. I was seriously starting to think about where in the whole city it would be wet. Then again, last time I was able to see something, it was around nine. We left my house at seven. So we ought to have been driving for about two hours. Which of course led to me realizing we might not still be in the city. I know, I figured that out by myself.

"Okay, Nick, seriously, where are we? I'm getting nervous now. Is this the moment when you go and tell me that you're going to kill me now?" Nick laughed which I found to be the most amazing sound ever and shook his head.

"No, I'm not going to kill you. However, you're going to find out very soon. There wasn't even a need to blindfold you. I just found this more rom-… uh, I mean, I just wanted to build up some suspense." I raised my eyebrows. Did I just imagine this or was he about to say something that would start with 'rom' and end with 'antic'? Yeah, I was getting crazy, definitely.

"Uh huh, sure… you are… funny, actually." And then I laughed. I just laughed because feelings were starting to overwhelm me. This was all happening so fast and all I could think of doing right now was laugh. I heard Nick chuckling next to me. So I guess he was laughing at my laugh. He probably found it ridiculous. Oh well, I was still laughing like crazy.

"Okay… we're here." That made me stop almost immediately. I stopped walking too but that was because Nick suddenly had. He let go of my hand and I guess he walked around me to stand behind me because the next thing I knew was that he talked into my ear. I could feel his warm breath tickling the base of my neck.

"I'll pull the blindfold off now…" I nodded as he slowly started to untie the blindfold. And then, it was lifted of my eyes. And I gasped…

* * *

**Oh yes... you all hate me now... but I love doing this XD This is only the first part of this chapter. It would have gotten way too long if I had tried to finish it. Also, I wouldn't have been able to finish it today... even though where I am it's already Monday morning, like 11 a.m... but I tried to update yesterday... I wrote all of this yesterday, except the ending... but it was Easter so... I was kinda busy you know?**

**Oh, by the way, happy Easter! Hope you had a good one... and now, thanks for reading, part two will come soon... ;) You all rock, I love you all and... please, maybe leave a review with some easter chocolate? ;) Okay... bye :D**


	6. Chapter 5 Part 2

Right in front of my eyes was the most beautiful view I had ever seen. Not that that was kinda hard to top. Obviously, my life hasn't been that great so far that I could say that I had that one beautiful moment that nothing in my whole life could top. Well, now I had that moment… with Nick. It couldn't get any better.

I looked around with big eyes as I took it all in. I had heard the water silently splashing but I didn't think it would look this beautiful. It looked like a little green house with a little waterfall. There were so many different types of flowers; I couldn't even name half of them, probably not even a quarter. I didn't care about the names of the flowers though. Just the beauty of them.

There were a few trees with leaves reaching until the ground, making them look like curtains. Not only did it look very romantic, but also very cliché. It made me wonder why Nick had taken me there. What was the reason? A simple trip somewhere? Was this a special place for him? What was the reason? But I wouldn't ask him that yet. I wanted to soak this moment in; enjoy it instead of ruin it.

I slowly walked up to a little rock I could sit on and touched it. It wasn't wet but it wasn't really dry either. I smiled a little as I sat down and looked around. It was so colorful. It was so peaceful. It was the perfect romantic scenery. The water was working its wonders on me. Before Nick had taken the blindfold off. I was nervous as hell. But the water was calming me down more than I would have thought.

I ran my hand through the grass. It was also still slightly damp but I supposed that it was because it was the crack of dawn. The grass was also a little higher than you usually see. As I looked out into the little lack where the little waterfall was splashing into I grinned. That's why I needed 'things to get wet' in.

I turned back to Nick. He was watching me intently, but there was a smile on his face. I smiled back and motioned for him to come over. He was carrying a bag which I had only noticed now. I didn't question it further but just watched him slowly walk over. He sat down into the damp grass but didn't say anything.

"This… it's so beautiful here… how did you find this?" He smiled and shrugged.

"I was just driving around one day and I got a little lost. After a few wrong turns I ended up here. I almost spent the whole night here. But I didn't care because it was just too beautiful to leave anyway. When I left, I made sure to remember the way back here. This is the place where I escape to whenever I feel like I need to. So, a few wrongs brought me here. But you know what they say, without the few wrongs in your life, how are you supposed to find the rights?"

I smiled and nodded, honestly astonished as he said this. So at first he didn't want to turn up here but he did? And he spent almost a whole night here. Wow, this place must mean a lot to him then. Or not, I didn't know, so I asked him exactly that. He smiled again, maybe even a little brighter this time and nodded.

"Yeah, it does… None of my friends know about it. I like to call it my 'oasis'. My hiding place. The only place where I can be myself without having people on my back about being different." I nodded, but I was pretty shocked too. He brought me here. And according to him, none of his friends knew of that place. I was the first to find out. This time, 'wow' seemed like an understatement.

"And… why did you bring me here?" Nick turned to look at me, his smile never leaving his face. Honestly, he looked better smiling like that, instead of smirking like he did in school. He looked… happier that way too.

"Because I felt like you needed this. To leave reality for some time. And to make you realize that beauty comes from the easiest things. Beauty doesn't mean make-up or the best dress." I blushed a little as he looked at me pointedly at the make-up part. But I also shrugged. I knew that beauty doesn't mean make-up and all that. But a lot of other people didn't know that.

"Well… thanks for bringing me here… and showing me this… letting me in on this. Is it really that far away from home?" Nick chuckled and shook his head a little. So he knew that I noticed that we had been driving for two hours.

"Uhm no… actually, you fell asleep after like, five minutes of me driving and we were here ten minutes later. You just looked so peaceful sleeping like that; I didn't want to wake you." I wasn't sure if he realized but what he just said made me almost melt to the floor like pudding. I smiled and squinted as the sun finally started to rise fully.

"Thanks for that… I really needed some more sleep." Nick chuckled again and nodded.

"You're welcome. At least now you know what you need the swimming things for." I giggled and nodded. He grabbed the bag and opened it, pulling out a few towels and a blanket. Also, he pulled out my bikini and some swim trunks for him. How did my bikini get in there?

"Uh… I put it in there after you fell asleep and I realized you didn't have anything to put it into with you." I nodded, a little surprised that he knew what I was asking myself. He smirked a little as he spread the blanket on the grass. As he had straightened it out to his… uh, desire, I guess, he motioned for me to sit on it. I giggled and moved off the rock onto the blanket.

He sat down himself and leaned back a little, closing his eyes. I watched him for a moment. He looked so content here. I bet that he was too. This place was amazing. I would come back here every day if I knew where exactly we were. I would maybe ask him. Then again, it was his place. I couldn't just come here whenever I wanted. I would have to find my own place. That meant I would have to leave the house from time to time.

"You know… there's another reason why I wanted to share this with you." I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at him again. His head turned and he smiled a little.

"Yeah?" He chuckled and sat up normally again, his body completely turned towards me. I smiled too, just a little.

"Yeah… this place is special to me. And you're special to- uh, you're special. And… I've always told myself if I meet someone special enough and that is worth it, I was going to take that person here… and show them this place." Somehow, I didn't believe all he said. It sounded… wrong, I don't know why. I mean, I knew he was trying to be honest… but it sounded as if he had decided to use some other words instead of what he had originally planned.

I frowned a little though I was touched that he found me 'special and worth it' to show me this place. And what was with the small mess up? Was he going to say that I was special to him? Why did he stop? Was it too soon or too embarrassing to say it? There were so many questions and I had no answers. And somehow, I knew that he wouldn't answer either… at least not yet.

But I blushed either way. I mean, come on, have your big crush slash the hottest guy in school tell you that you're special and 'worth it'. You would blush all the way to your toes, I'm telling you. Nick smirked my way as he saw the blush creeping up my face. I rolled my eyes slightly before remembering what Nick had told me about that action making you dumb. I stopped mid-roll and looked away. Nick chuckled quietly so I threw him a mild-glare. Actually, I was just joking with the glare.

"Ha ha, you're so funny. I seriously forgot to laugh. But… thank you. It… it means a lot to me that you would show me this place. I feel special now too." I turned back to Nick to see him smile at me before he blushed gently. That made me throw him a smirk. He chuckled and shook his head. Huh… I guess that was his way of rolling his eyes without actually doing it.

"You're welcome." We sat in quiet for some time. It was a nice, companionable silence. I really enjoyed it, even though I usually hate silences like that. I mean, it's just so quiet and you never really know what to say. Especially since I mostly felt like I should be intimidated by whoever I was talking to. In this case, I really was. I just wasn't quite sure Nick was aware of that.

Not pondering about whether he was aware or not, I got up and walked towards the water. I knew Nick was watching me but I didn't really care. What else was he supposed to do? We were the only two people around here, he couldn't be looking anywhere but me since I was the only one moving. People automatically turn their attention on something that either disturbed their peace, moved or something else. I believe I've read something about it but it sounded way smarter when I read it.

I stuck my finger into the water, only to realize that it was warm. I smile and turned to Nick. He grinned at me and then threw me my bikini. I merely caught it – with my finger, it was now dangling awkwardly – and blushed a little at my inability to catch as much as a piece of clothing. Nick chuckled and got up himself, grabbing his trunks along the way.

"I suppose you wanna go for a swim." I nodded. And then we just stood there. Okay, awkward. What now? Was he expecting me to change in front of him or what? He continued to look at me and then shrugged. I shrugged too and then we didn't move again. After a few more moments standing like that, I groaned and shook my head.

"Come on, what now? I'm not going to undress in front of you." Nicks seemed to snap out of it and for a moment I thought that maybe, he had been actually… checking me out. But it seemed ridiculous. There was nothing to really check out, at least according to me. Nick blushed a little and then chuckled.

"Uh, yeah, you could… uh, go over there, behind that tree with the leaves. You know, hanging down there." Nick pointed towards one big fat tree, with the leaves not only touching the floor, but it almost looked as if a blanket were covering it. I smiled and nodded, walking over to it. Of course, I took a towel with me. I would just stay covered under it until Nick would jump in. Then I would quickly pull it off and jump in after him. I wasn't particularly proud of my body, you must know.

"Okay, just so you know, I swear to god, if you as much as peek, you are dead." I heard Nick laugh but it sounded pretty far away. Okay, so he walked somewhere else. I looked around myself, feeling paranoid. But after some time I realized that there was no soul out here other than some insects. Even though I was sort of peeved about that because I absolutely hate everything that crawls.

I quickly undressed myself and then pulled on my bikini. No matter how sure I was that no one was around, I was a pretty paranoid person. I let out a little sigh, relieved that no one had decided to jump on me and scare the hell out of me. After pulling everything in its right place I made my way back to the blanket that was still sprawled across the floor.

I had assumed that since I was the girl and since I was paranoid that Nick would be back faster than me. Well, assuming isn't exactly knowing and so I had to wait for him for another five minutes until he finally came back. If this had been a date I would have possibly said that it was rude to let the girl wait. Except this wasn't a date and I didn't really find it rude. Maybe he just wanted to find the most private place around.

Okay, yeah, he could have told me that place if it had been. God knows what he had been doing back there. For all I know he could have been jerking off or something. Not that I found that interesting. I would have found that rude. And gross, mind you. But of course, I didn't ask him as he came back, grinning. I hadn't been looking at his body, that's why I grinned back.

But as he came closer I got a better look at him. And oh my god, he was… hot, alright. He looked like sex on legs, really. Not too much muscle to make it look weird but just enough to make him look so hot that I had to question myself how he ended up taking me here, how he found me worth it. I self-consciously looked down at myself wrapped in a towel. This would be so embarrassing.

And then I thought. And whenever I got to think, we all knew, it wasn't good. It wasn't thinking itself in general. It was me and my self-destroying and self-hating thoughts. I knew that my body was far from fat or anything. But if I compared myself to his friends that were girls (I would have called them girlfriends but that would have made him sound like some kind of player) and even to his guy friends, I would never stand a chance.

And at that moment, I hated myself for many things. I hated myself for having a body like I did. I hated myself for never trying to fit in. I hated myself for agreeing on coming here. And I hated myself for letting Nick convince me. And maybe I hated my mom a little bit for letting him in that morning and allowing him to come upstairs.

I knew that all those thoughts were unnecessary. I knew that my body was sexy, I had been told after all. The only problem was that it doesn't matter if three people tell you your body's hot if you have the whole school telling you otherwise. And now there was this sex-god standing in front of me, still grinning, having no clue what I was thinking about. Maybe he would even scold me for even thinking it since apparently he found me 'worth it'… whatever 'it' was.

"You ready?" _No_. That's what I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him that I was not ready to reveal myself like that to him. Even though I was wearing a bikini and I was making this whole scene sound worse than it really was. But was that what I said? Did I say that I felt so self-conscious about my body that I wanted to practically throw up right there to see if it would help a little bit? Nope, I didn't.

"Uh, sure…" He smiled and started walking towards the water. Okay, I could just rip the towel off as soon as he was in the water, not looking and then jump in, no matter if the water was super cold or not. Yeah, that would be the plan. Except, as soon as he touched the water he reached his hand out to me. Uh, sure, yeah, what now?

"Come on, let's go in together." Of course, he had to do that. Either he was scared to go in alone, he couldn't swim or he just wanted to torture me. Also, it might be possible that this all was just a stupid dare, bet, game… whatever and soon, all his friends would jump out of the bushes, snap a picture of my... not so skinny body and then laugh their asses off for at least a month because I was naïve enough to think that Mr. Popular himself would do something as special with me as this, feeding me all this crap.

But nonetheless, I slowly walked towards him. As my feet touched the water I realized that I would have to take the towel off. I wasn't ready yet though. So I stood there, kind of paralyzed, trying to decide what to do. Nick kept on staring at me so that wasn't really helping. I sighed and then crossed my arms in front of me. Nick raised his eyebrows.

"What? What's the problem? Are you cold? We don't have to go swimming if you don't want to…" The concern in his voice caught me off guard. Was he really worried that I didn't want to go swimming with him? Or that I was cold? That was… sweet. But I sighed and shook my head, answering him and my thoughts. I could not fall for him like that. Yeah, he was hot and I had a crush on him. I was practically in love with him – no, with his looks. I couldn't fall for his personality though.

I knew that in the end, I would be the one to get hurt. I knew that. It was always like that with those kinda stories. Ugly duckling falls in love with the pretty swan – though in this case I would use the term 'hot' instead of 'pretty'. Then hot swan has to dump ugly duckling because of his friends or whatever. Ugly duckling gets its heart broken and that's it. And no matter how shallow that sounded, I was in love with his looks, clearly because I didn't know him that well yet. I didn't want to fall in love with him like that – with his personality. I would get my heart broken.

"Uh, no it's fine… just self-conscious." I am a pretty honest person. So that was no surprise there. Nick raised his eyebrows and then shook his head. He slowly grabbed hold of my towel and pulled it off, dropping it to the ground. I shivered, not sure whether it was because I was cold, because he had touched me or because now I didn't have anything else to hide me behind.

Nick smiled and reached out his hand once again. I took it, choosing to ignore the little electric shots sent through my every vein. Yeah, I could not fall in love with him. I just couldn't. He smiled a little bigger and then started pulling me into the water. I didn't look at him. Not until we were in. And then he dove around a little with me watching him.

As he appeared in front of me, I could see that he was laughing, silently. I smiled a little and splashed him with water which lead to him splashing me back. We were laughing and splashing each other for some time until we finally stopped, trying to catch our breaths. As we did so, Nick looked at me in a serious way.

"I don't understand… I don't understand why you're self-conscious. You… you have an amazing body, really. All those other girls may it be the really skinny or really big ones… They are all jealous of you, you should know that. No, you should understand that. Because I know you don't." I blushed just as did he.

We were quiet from then on, swimming around a little. I was trying to swallow what he had just said. This was getting to be a little too much. If I remembered correctly, a week ago he hadn't even been acknowledging me and now my body was 'amazing' and apparently I was 'worth it'. Once again, I had no idea what 'it' was. But I somehow felt like I would find out soon.

After about an hour of swimming and the occasional laughter we finally got out of the water. I figured it was around midday now. And I honestly had no idea how long we would stay here. It wasn't like I had anything planned for that day anyway. Well, I probably would have called Brooke and Demi to come over or something but that would have been about it.

Nick plopped down onto the blanket with a towel around his shoulders. I had a towel wrapper around my body. That was how I got to sit in the most awkward way possible. I could just cross my legs under me, he would have been able to see my crotch and that would have been way awkward. So I slowly let myself down onto the towel, trying my hardest not to part my legs. And that looks just as awkward.

Nick was chuckling all the while, watching me struggle, making me throw a few nasty faces at him which in return made him laugh even more. I gave up trying to be mad and laughed too. He was right, it was funny. And soon, we were both laughing so much that I was rolling on the floor looking anything but graceful and Nick was actually starting to tear up and cough.

And suddenly, we stopped. Like, not just trying to calm down with the occasional chuckle in between. We just stopped. And then Nick looked at me and shook his head again. Oh, was this the time where he told me that it had all been a prank? Good, I would brace myself for it. I took a deep breath and then nodded, trying to smile a little, though sadly.

"I still don't see how you don't find yourself pretty. You're… more than just pretty." I blushed, not expecting that. Okay, talk about a change of... topic? No, we weren't really talking about anything. I was just expecting him to start laughing now. But how was I supposed to respond, really? Saying thank you would sound weird. But not saying anything or disagreeing would sound as if I wanted to hear it more often. So I just sighed.

"Well… I don't really know. You see, when people keep telling you that you're not… one day you're going to believe them. And I guess, over the years, I started believing them. I know it's kinda sad but… well, that's just how it is." Nick sighed and shook his head. He looked kinda frustrated.

"You see, that's pure jealousy speaking. Whenever they say you're not pretty… they're all just jealous. And… what if there were someone to tell you that you're beautiful, every day, every time he sees you? Would that convince you otherwise?" I shrugged and played with my wet hair. It was starting to wave and curl like crazy but I kinda liked my hair liked that. I wasn't ashamed to walk around with the craziest hair… which was kind of weird, you know?

"I don't know… maybe, it might happen, yeah." Nick chuckled and once again shook his head. Was it so unbelievable that you would believe those that tell you the negative things rather than the ones that tell you positive things? Apparently, to Nick it was. But I knew better. Just once in my life, I knew better.

"It's a shame that you don't believe you're beautiful." I smiled at that, simply because he sounded cute saying it. And then I shrugged and lied down on the blanket.

"It's because people kept telling me that I'm ugly, that I'm fat and all that. Like I told you, if you hear it every day, some day you're going to believe it. I just started believing them. I've heard some sort of saying once. I don't even know if it's a saying but whatever. 'Tell a girl she's beautiful a lot, she will forget. But tell a girl she's ugly once and she'll remember for the rest of her life.' That's pretty much how it's with me."

I couldn't see Nick at this point. I'd closed my eyes and enjoyed the sun beaming down on my skin. A little tan would be nice since I was as white as a ghost. If you don't go out a lot like me you're not going to get a tan. And I really don't go out a lot. Maybe I should from now on at least go outside in our backyard. We don't have a swimming pool the size of a little lake for nothing, right?

As I kept thinking about my not-here-yet tan I didn't realize that Nick had moved. I wasn't paying attention to anything around me. I mean, I could or maybe even should have but I didn't. Next thing I knew was that Nick had sort of pulled me on top of him. Maybe he didn't mean to or something like that. But my head was now lying on his chest and his arm was around me.

I didn't move. I was too shocked. All Nick did was play with my hair which was now starting to dry completely. This day took a complete turn. I had planned to study my ass off, stay inside and maybe do something on my computer. Now I was in some sort of oasis with a boy I had a serious crush on and he was holding me. In his freaking arms. His very muscular arms. I just about died then.

"You, Miley, are probably the most beautiful girl I know. I'm not saying that to make you feel better or something like that. I'm saying that because it's the truth. You're not just pretty on the outside. I learned that looks don't matter; they shouldn't matter, at least not as much as they do. What should matter is the inside, the way you are. And… in both ways really, you couldn't be more beautiful. To me, beautiful doesn't only mean the looks. And you are beautiful, inside and out."

To some this little speech may have seemed way too corny and cheesy and over the top. And maybe it was. But the way he said it, with so much passion and the way he was convinced with what he was saying, it made me tear up. He meant it when he said I was beautiful. And that really got to me. He thought I was beautiful.

I guess he felt one small tear drop onto his chest – which was naked, by the way and he had some muscles, alright – because next thing I knew is he was sitting up and looking at me confused. I smiled a little and wiped my eyes, trying not to look like I was crying. Obviously, I did look like that since I was wiping my eyes but I didn't think about that at the time.

"What's wrong? Did I say something…?" I shook my head and choked out a laugh.

"No, I mean… yes, you did. But… what you said wasn't bad. Nobody has ever said something like that to me. It was sweet… and you sounded so convinced and sure with what you said and… yeah, it's stupid." Nick rubbed my shoulder and shook his head.

"It's not stupid. I know what you mean. And… you know what? From now on, I'll be the one person to tell you that you're beautiful. Every day until you believe me, you'll hear me say you're beautiful." I blushed but nodded. I couldn't just say no and expect him to really do so. And it would probably be nice to hear someone say something as nice as that.

Nick smiled and then pulled me a little closer to him. Up until this day I thought that only boyfriends did that; you know, cuddle with their girlfriends, trying to tell you that you're pretty and all that. Or at least boys did that to girls that they fancied or something like that. But maybe boys did that to girls that they felt needed to hear it? Because to me there was no way in hell that Nick could feel anything for me. Anything more than friendship anyway. And I would get to see just how right I was soon enough. Lucky for me I didn't know that on that Saturday.

* * *

**First of all, I wanna apologize. I know I haven't updated in like, two or three weeks but there's a reason. I was at the world champion ships for ninepins which means I had to concentrate on that before I went there. And then I was there (and I won 2nd and 3rd place in two different categories, so I'm vice world champion, but nobody's asking so... whatever XP) and now I'm back since Friday and I finally got to finish this chapter. I hope it sorta made up for not updating... even though I know it didn't. **

**If anyone is still reading this anyway. I would understand if not. But thank you for reading anyway and I really hope you liked and enjoyed it :) Once again, I'm sorry for not being able to update sooner. I was just so busy before we went there (we had to drive for 10 hours to get there, by the way :P). I practiced a lot and then I had to study for school since I'd miss a lot of that when I was gone. But I'm back now and once again, I hope you liked this :) Thanks for reading, hope you liked it and... review? Mabye, please? ^^**


	7. Chapter 6

The weekend had gone by in a blur. Nick and I had spent the whole of Saturday at the little oasis and afterwards, he'd taken me to a little cute restaurant, to get something 'real to eat'. I was pretty sure he had no idea how smitten I was. At around nine at night I was finally home and I fell asleep almost as soon as I hit the mattress.

Sunday I spent studying. And since I had slept in – I woke up around two p.m. and took my time actually getting out of bed – I spent around four hours studying. I finished around dinner time, had something to eat and soon went to bed. All of my studying was spent outside though, because I seriously needed a tan; at least I thought so.

And then it was already Monday and I was extremely nervous. This would most likely be the day I'd find out if Nick actually meant what he'd said about him stopping with all the bullying… even though he's never bullied me before. Well, he promised he'd talk to me during school because all that group-building was nonsense.

But before I could let myself ponder whether Nick would actually talk to me or not, I tried to find Brooke and Demi. Those two would get my mind off things; or more particularly, Nick. At least I hoped they would. That's why my feet directed me towards the two of them, as soon as I spotted them leaning against a little fountain.

Brooke was first to spot me… and first to frown at me. Oh no, what happened? What did I do wrong? Was I walking funny? Did I dress weirdly, differently than usual? Was I smiling too big? What the hell? She was confusing me. And since I was confused already about the whole Nick thing, adding Brooke and her confusing ways was not really a good thing. But before I could ask her, as soon as I reached them, she already did the job for me.

"Where the hell have you been all weekend? Dems and I tried calling you… on several occasions!" Oh, so that's what it was about. And the exclamation mark was not necessary. You could practically hear it, the way she shouted it, the only thing missing was her actually saying 'exclamation mark'. Brooke tended to do that, whenever she felt either funny or pissed off.

"Well… I wasn't home?" Poor, Miley, really poor. I could have done better but at that moment, I saw Nick walk directly behind the two. He hadn't seen me because his back was turned towards me, but I knew his back now. I knew it almost as good as his front… meaning his face, of course. After swimming with him for a whole day, I was kinda bound to know him a little better.

"'I wasn't home'? That's all you got? Well, how about 'sorry Brooke, I decided to become a little bitch and not tell you where I was even though I've been telling you ever since we decided to become best friends'?" I frowned a little. Why was she even so pissed off? After deciding that if she got to be angry, I got to be too, I glared at her.

"Well, how about 'Sorry Brooke, but sometimes there are things that aren't mine to tell. I promised someone that I wouldn't tell because it was their decision and not mine'?" Okay, that was a lie. I never promised Nick that, but I knew that it really wasn't mine to tell. And Brooke could not, under any circumstances, keep her mouth shut, even if you begged her to.

Of course, that had Brooke silent for some time. Enough time for Nick to turn around and catch my eye. Enough time for him to send me one of his amazing smiles. Enough time for him to appear to be walking straight towards us. And definitely enough time for me to start panicking. I wasn't sure if he was going to approach this like I wanted him to – civilly, stating that he had fun last Saturday – or the way I expected him to – like a jerk, laughing in my face, embarrassing me and definitely trying to humiliate me, saying that this all was just a prank.

"Still, we've never had any secrets so I don't…" Brooke was cut off with a squeal. In general, Brooke hated to be cut off. But as she turned to Demi to see what the squeal was about, she squealed herself and started fluffing her hair. I sighed. Okay, this would be it. I would finally get to see if Nick could hold a promise. And Brooke would probably kill me for not telling her sooner.

"Oh my gosh, he's totally walking our way right now. How do I look? Do I have something in my teeth?" Demi and Brooke kept asking each other, totally ignoring me. They were nervous as hell. Still I would bet that I was more nervous than them. And then, Nick finally reached us. He smiled at me and held his arms out, making Brooke and Demi stop with what they were doing; Brooke finger-brushing her teeth and Demi trying to fluff her hair.

I looked at Nick shocked, confused and slightly panicked until he just pulled me into a hug. He had hugged me on Saturday too, but the feeling was still the same. Amazing, really. There were no words to describe how good it felt to just be hugged by this guy. You could feel every toned muscle in his body.

Brooke and Demi's mouths were wide open with astonishment and shock, I would have loved to tell them to shut it, not having the opportunity quite often. It was mostly me being shocked about their escapades and such. But this time, no, not this time. This time, it was me shocking them. But I was too shocked myself to say anything. Nick pulled back.

"Hey, Miles. Demi, Brooke…" He waved at them and smiled. Both of them were on the verge of passing out, I could see it. My eyebrows were raised. Because Nick had called me Miles, which I found adorable, even though it was my nickname anyway, and because after he'd greeted the two, they were frozen in place. Until Brooke finally snapped out of it… sort of.

"Uh, you… and Miley… but… yeah, hey, Nick…" She was stuttering. Brooke Penelope doesn't stutter. She doesn't stumble either. She struts and proclaims… at least that's what Brooke kept on saying about herself. I've never heard her stutter in my whole life. Until this moment, when Nick decided to… well, what did he decide to do? Hug me in public? Yeah, he did that… Approach me in public? Yup, that happened too. What next?

He laughed and nodded towards her, while Demi just kept on staring, her mouth wide open and her arms hanging by her sides limb. She looked ridiculous, but she was Demi so she pulled it off just fine. Unfortunately, only me and Brooke could really see that. To the others, it looked like she just saw a ghost and now was on the verge of passing out. She just looked ridiculous.

"So, what're you three doing?" So, what the hell are you doing mister? That's what I wanted to ask him. But I didn't say anything. Because the next second, his friends were suddenly there and they looked at him curiously. Yeah, they were probably asking the same thing I was asking myself. What the hell was he doing?

"Nick… what the hell are you doing over here? With the… losers." The last word was spit out as if it was chosen as the nicest thing to say to us. I guess, at this point to them it really was. I just sighed and looked at Brooke and Demi who seemed to be just as interested in the question as Nick's friends. Honestly, I was too. What would he say?

"I… uh, well, I came to chat, what do you think?" Clara stepped forward. She was obviously Miss Popular in their circle. And she definitely was the main bitch there too. She smirked at him, obviously thinking she caught on to his innuendo. Obviously, some bullies said that they'd 'chat' with their victim while actually they'd been interrogating them.

"Oh… right… Why don't I believe you?" Nick and I frowned. I frowned because Clara seemed to be even more stupid than I believed her to be and Nick frowned because she didn't believe him. He was sincere when he said he'd come here to chat. But before Nick could answer or probably even think about an answer, my mouth did the job for him.

I don't know how it happened, but I felt like I shouldn't be the reason for Nick to become unpopular, to become hated and stomped on. He did so much for me the last weekend by just acknowledging me, let alone take me to his secret place and make me feel worth something, I didn't want him to lose his popularity just because he promised me something that shouldn't even mean anything to him. Saying he'd risk his popularity and his image for me was stupid because I didn't mean anything to him; at least not as much as those two things.

"He… he came over here to tell me off. He said that my dress looked ridiculous and gross… and it appears to be too tight. And if I ever were to show up in that dress again he would… shred it or something like that, I didn't really listen, I was too busy… uh, not crying… and he threatened to push me over if I ever dared touch him again. And then I did… so he was just about to push me…"

I wasn't sure who was more shocked. Nick, who wasn't only shocked but also seemed to be hurt by what I just said, Brooke and Demi or Clara. I have never once really talked to her. Well, I did, I back-talk her a lot. I just never admitted on being bullied before. What made it worse in that moment was that I was lying about it. Or actually, that was pretty okay thinking about it but… the point was that in the one moment that it wasn't happening to me, I felt like I had to lie about it because I didn't want to ruin someone's life. Did that make me a good person?

"Is this true, Nick?" Clara turned to Nick, just as did Demi, Brooke and the rest of the crowd that had formed in the few minutes of standing there. I didn't look at him. The moment I'd finished, I saw the hurt and sort of even betrayal in his eyes. I don't really know what his problem was, I didn't _mean_ anything to him, not like that, for him to feel betrayed or something like that.

But nonetheless, I listened as well. I wanted to know what he had to say. Would he agree with me or would he not? And then I'd have to explain to Brooke and Demi, once Nick would have agreed because I knew that's what he'd do. He would never admit it, but he did love his popularity and his image. And he would not give it up for me, I knew that too.

"Uh.. yeah, that's true." And then I felt a shove and I fell to the floor. So he did push me, just for good measure. Either he did it because I said he was just about to, which I believed to be at least half of the truth, or because he felt like it seeing as I just might have hurt his feelings. Or he pushed me half because I said he was about to and because he could without looking weird at the moment. Either way it hurt; falling down and hitting the ground, realizing what big of a mistake I just made.

Nick was gone way faster than I could have looked up. And then, Brooke and Demi were by my side, pulling me up as fast as they could. I looked after Nick, making out his figure in the crowd quickly. His shoulders were slumped. And even though I knew his friends were congratulating him about pushing me to the ground, he felt bad about it. And he was ignoring them.

I felt bad, really bad. Not only because I might have slightly hurt Nick's feelings somehow. Also because maybe now, I ruined every single chance I ever had of being friends with Nick. Being with him completely was now so much out of the question, I wasn't even sure there was ever the chance of being with him at all.

Nick was gone, and he'd maybe never come back. I pushed him away even though it was him that pushed me at the end. And now I was being pushed into the girls' toilet. Time to give the two girls some details, I suppose. They looked more than just curious. They looked ready to kill if they wouldn't find out soon. And it all did look way too suspicious to play it off like I did with Carla.

"Okay, Missy, start the talking. What the hell just happened out there? And what the hell happened last weekend, where you oh so mystically disappeared, never picked up your phone and never called back. And on Saturday, your mother said you left the house with some friend. Now, no offense, but we know that we two are your only friends. What friend did you leave the house with? By the way, you never leave the house, not even with us, you barely even go to the movies with us, I mean, what's up with that, why can't you just-"

"Brooke… I think you should first of all, breathe, and you should probably let her answer too. I mean, she's not going to remember half of your questions if you keep going like this." Brooke nodded, took a deep breath, said 'right' and then turned to me expectantly.

"Uh… what?" Brooke rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Okay, let's start with the most obvious one: What the hell just happened out there?" I sighed and shrugged.

"Well… I might have disappointed him out there…" Brooke nodded, glad that I was telling her something. Honestly, this girl could not go without details of secrets for a day if she knew there was more to the story than she was being told.

"Okay, so why was he disappointed? Why would he be? And what the hell happened this weekend?" I chuckled a little just because she was rambling again and then shrugged.

"Well… he kind of took me somewhere last Saturday… and we, uh, bonded, I guess. And… now he wanted to be honest and I made him not only seem like a liar in front of his friends, but also I hurt him because I just wouldn't let him be honest and… I messed everything up. Now he won't want to be friends with me anymore and… gosh, there wasn't anything to mess up to begin with but that's the point, you know?" Brooke just stared at me.

This must have been a historical moment. Brooke was never just quiet. She didn't just stare. She was Brooke and she always had something to say. But I suppose this was a situation where anybody would have to digest what they just heard. I had my problems believing my eyes on that Saturday as well. And adding a frantic me speaking in riddles probably wasn't helping either.

"Okay… wow, that's… something. I guess you're pretty stupid then. Dude, Nick freaking Jonas was about to admit to his super hot super popular friends that he… well, whatever he was going to 'admit', probably that you two were sort of friends now and you just blow him off! You're a jerk, Miley, a jerk!" I frowned and shook my head.

"No, you don't get it! I know for sure that his reputation is more important to him than I am, I mean, why would he care about me more than something he had to build all these years that actually meant something to him? I know he loves that he belongs to them, even though he doesn't agree with most of the things they do. He's glad that he isn't the one being bullied but he doesn't bully others. It's very complicated and I know because he told me. I just… I didn't want him to lose all he's worked for, you know? I didn't want to be the reason, at least. Even though reputation and all that BS don't mean anything after High School."

"But… I just don't understand… How did this happen? Why did you spend Saturday with him?" I smiled a little and then shrugged.

"I really have no idea. He just showed up at like 7 p.m. and made me get up. The day before he helped me with work; you know, handing out flyers really isn't something you'd be proud of doing nor something that is easily done, especially if you're standing in some alley that no one fucking goes through. And suddenly, there was Nick and he helped me get rid of those ridiculous flyers. And he brought me home saying that the alley I was in and the way I'd have to walk would be pretty dangerous at night. And the next day he was at my house, in my room, pushing me to get ready."

Brooke's eyebrows were raised as she stared at me. I knew that she knew that I was not telling something but I was grateful that she wasn't asking for more. I promised Nick not to tell anyone about him being an infant. I bet it was hard enough having to deal with it at home; or wherever else he wouldn't have to pretend. Having to explain to his popular friends how their apparently rich friend was actually poor and had no parents would probably kill him social-wise.

"This… this really is something… And why didn't you tell us? I mean, we're your best friends, you can tell us anything." I sighed and shrugged.

"Well… I thought Nick wouldn't want anyone to know even though he's said that he wouldn't lie anymore. He said that he was sick of pretending to be someone he's not. Well, he basically did. It wasn't so much with the words, but with the meaning behind them, you know?" Suddenly, Demi sprung back to life, having probably zoned out on us for the last few minutes.

"You spent a whole day with freaking Nick Jonas?" I giggled and nodded. She squealed and hugged me.

"Oh my god, that's so awesome! That could change our whole reputation!" I softly pushed her off me. She was seriously squeezing me to death here. And then I shook my head.

"No, I don't want that. I don't want him pushing our reputation. Because it would seem like I'm using him. And it most likely would work the other way anyway; he'd become one of us." Demi frowned and stood back. She was like a little kid sometimes, really.

"Oh… okay then, still you hung out with him." And there was her super smile again. I smiled and nodded. That's the spirit.

"Exactly… okay, now I suppose we should get to class." We all nodded but no one moved. Some were still digesting the information that was just shared with them and… well, okay; I was just trying to think of a reason to not hate myself right now… much like Nick probably did.

Gosh, I was such an idiot. How could I not just let him do the talking? I never talked to Clara or any other person from the popular group, at least not for any other reason than to defend myself. I always defended myself because I have some dignity left in myself. I would never let any mean comment about myself or my friends just be.

Even though most of the time I would just embarrass myself in front of everyone, trying to come up with a good comeback but… I was trying because I cared. The point was that I would not say anything to them if it didn't concern the little that was left of me. I learned to defend myself and that was it. But why in the name of anything that made sense did I have to say that Nick was there to bully me?

That question haunted me all day. In Science, when Nick was sitting just two tables in front of me, I was asking myself why I was so hate-able. In Bio, he was sitting next to me so I asked myself why I was so horrible to look at, why I was so stupid and why I was not some 'popular-material'. In Math he wasn't in my class, but still I had to ask myself how it was possible that he had to have cared in some way.

And then it was lunch and I was more depressed than ever. I had managed to bring myself down so much that I didn't believe in anything about myself anymore. I even started to think that I was breathing wrong. I mean, how can someone breathe so loudly, really? Maybe it was me being slightly sick… okay, I had been crying for some very short amount of time and my nose got kinda stuffy so… you know, not worth mentioning. But I breathed rather loudly.

And I brought my concern to Brooke and Demi. They were… surprised by my revelation. Or… okay, well, they were shocked, disgruntled… astonished and lastly pissed off by my revelations. How could I think such bad things about me? Hey, I didn't know and I didn't care. But Brooke and Demi did. They probably just didn't want Emo-Miley though.

"Okay, smile, bitch. I mean, you are wonderful… a little stupid and clumsy, but wonderful. Beautiful… incredible, amazing and indescribable." I raised my eyebrows at Demi and Brooke giggled. Demi tended to get like that; all lyrical and… smart and stuff.

"Don't write a song about me now!" Demi laughed and I couldn't help but crack a smile. Demi's laugh was just something else. No matter how depressed you were feeling, she would make you smile anyway, just with her way to be funny without wanting to be.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Well, but you are… amazing, you know?" I nodded but didn't really take her words seriously. I knew she only wanted my best so she had to tell me; she was my best friend after all. Brooke put an arm around me and rubbed my shoulder.

"I know that you don't believe in yourself. You're self conscious and the reason… more like reasons are to not be named right now. We'd be sitting here for the longest time ever and I unfortunately have four more classes to go. Anyway, you shouldn't be self conscious about yourself, your body or… anything else you could be self conscious about. You are who you are. And the person you are right now is amazing, okay?" I nodded again and took a bite of my apple. Again, I really wasn't listening to her.

I mean, yeah, I was… I just didn't believe her when she said what she said. Just like Demi, she also kind of had to say that. I know that no one was making her but I felt like she was making herself. Whatever it was that was bringing me down that day… it was good, really good. I believed myself when I said or thought that I wasn't beautiful at all.

"And just because you might feel guilty for… hurting Nick, think about all the times he should have felt guilty for his friends hurting you but didn't. You only were trying to protect him, okay? That was fine, it was nice… sort of really stupid too, but you were only thinking about him when you did it. You are a very nice, very stupid person, Miley. He probably took you for granted or something, thinking that you were easy to play."

I sighed. She was probably right. But I didn't want to believe that all he'd wanted to do was play me. I didn't want to be played, especially not by him. I used to believe in the good in him. How could I be so wrong? Why did I have to be so wrong?

* * *

The rest of my school day passed by in a blur. And not once did Nick try to talk to me again. I didn't get a text, I didn't get a call and there was no voicemail either. He did have my number however so I figured he was really pissed off. Like, completely pissed off. I'd messed up and that was that, nothing more.

I was not expecting anything when I came home. I parked my car, like usual. I locked it too, because we lived in an area where it was possible that the car could get stolen and I really didn't want that happening. And usually, that would have been the point where I'd walk into the empty house completely hungry to find nothing at all to eat because Mom forgot to buy something again.

But, when I'd turned around from locking my car I saw someone standing at our door, obviously trying to unlock it and failing as well. My eyes were wide open in shock. They were trying to break in! And me being… well, me… I had no idea about self defense; at all. I was defenseless. And to add to that, I'd left my phone at home that morning, of course not on purpose. I couldn't even call anyone.

But I figured if I moved slowly and carefully, preferably quietly too then I'd have a chance of knocking them out before they realized I was there. So I grabbed the nearest heavy thing I could; which happened to be a lid for a dustbin outside, and started to move towards the intruder. They were quietly cursing to themselves, probably angry about not being able to open the door.

I was really close by now but there was one thing that made me stop; the very delicious smell of pizza. Now here's the problem with that: I love pizza very much and I was really hungry. So, I suppose that wasn't the best combination for someone trying to knock someone else out. My stomach grumbled so loud, I would almost bet the neighbors might have heard.

The person stopped what they were doing and I stopped walking and held my stomach. And then, they turned around. I gasped and took a step back. Who would have thought… I rubbed my eyes and too late realized that I was wearing make-up. It smeared, I knew. The person looked at me with what I guessed was supposed to be a smile.

"I uh… I brought pizza?" I bit my lip to hide my smile. This was really unexpected. Of course, pleasant as well, but unexpected. I nodded and unlocked the door, letting my 'intruder' into the house.

* * *

**So, surprise surprise, I'm updating, after an eternity of nothing... I'm so sorry about that. But lately, I really haven't been inspired to write this story... I know this is a lame ass excuse but that's unfortunately the truth. It might have something to do with being sorta annoyed with Nick and the whole Delta thing. Now, I'm not going to say much about them, just that I feel like Nick might be using her to appear more grown-up... or to piss off Miley. Also, he could be trying to do both things at the same time. It seems to be working with Miley, I might add ;)**

**So, I'm annoyed with Nick's attitude and that's making me... not so inspired to write Niley stuff right now. But, however, I'll be on vacation for 9 weeks in a week so... expect more chapters... better chapters too, this one really sucked :P... I mean, it wasn't just generally bad, it was... horrible, I know... :P And I suppose I left a little cliffhanger there, but nothing big, you know? You all probably know who it is... or do you?**

**Anyway, thanks for reading the chapter (and the A/N, if you did ;)) and I really hope you sorta liked it... and the updating will get better, I promise... I swear... and I'll stop promising to update... you should just follow me on Twitter to find out if and when I'm updating... ;) The username's the same... okay, now, I'll let you go... please, even though the chapter sucked, leave a review and let me know what you think... thanks for reading :))**


	8. Chapter 7

Pizza had always been my favorite food ever. It was so easily made. Since I was pretty incapable of cooking… anything really, it had always been the one thing I could fall back on whenever I didn't feel like ordering food and Mom wasn't home. Obviously, you didn't necessarily have to order pizza. I just heated it up. Anything else that had to be heated up tasted weird to me if I did it. That basically meant that if Mom didn't do it, I wouldn't eat it. I didn't trust my cooking skills at all. Only with the pizza.

So pizza had always been my favorite food. But ever since he'd shown up with that pizza carton, I think there is not one food that could ever compare to pizza ever again. I would forever love it, just because he got me something to eat. And I realize just how stupid that sounded, but pizza was now almost holy to me. And once again, I know it sounded stupid and naïve and… yeah, well, really weird too.

But no matter how much I loved pizza now – even more than before – the silence was killing me. We had finished the last pieces and were now just leaning back on the couch, not saying anything. I was never good with silences. Because then I'd start thinking and we all know that thinking wasn't one of my strongest skills… and nothing good would come out when I thought. And so far, I'd come to the conclusion that maybe he had gotten the wrong house or he was now playing a prank on me for… for what I did in school.

While he wasn't even looking at me, I was staring at him, trying to see if he was mad or hurt or anything else. But he kept up a stone face, not showing any sign of anything. And then, after waiting for at least ten minutes and getting not even a grunt out of him, I finally sighed resignedly and then shook my head.

"Okay, I'm sorry to say it like that, but seriously, what the hell is going on? Why are you here? Why are you not saying anything? And how in the same heck did you know that I was hungry and just craving pizza?" Nick finally turned his head towards me. He was… oh my gosh, was he smirking? Was that jerk really smirking at me? But I couldn't help but let a smile spread over my face. He looked cute, smirking like that. And he also wasn't really a jerk.

"Well, I don't know what's going on; we're not really doing anything. I'm here because I wanted to apologize for pushing you to the ground, I was just pissed off that you would deny… well, me, I suppose. And I just kinda figured that if I wanted to apologize, I might as well do it with your favorite food. And since school was just out, I guessed that you'd be hungry." I nodded, a few more questions still lingering in my mind.

"Well, why did you want to break in? I mean, you could have just waited on the doorstep, like any other normal person. And also… I'm sorry. I should have let you talk. I felt so horrible after what I said and I don't even know why! I mean, we're barely friends, right? Just because we spent one Saturday together doesn't mean anything. And I just… I don't know. I didn't want to get publicly humiliated after… I mean, I don't know… gosh, I just didn't want to get hurt if you would suddenly not want to be friendly with me anymore… and I…" I sighed and then shook my head. I felt a shift of the couch and then Nick had his hand on my back.

"I get it, you know? I'm sorry I freaked out like that but… well, I wanted to… I don't know what I wanted to. I just… I feel like we have some sort of connection, you know? You're special and I mean that in a good way too, okay? You're amazing and beautiful and kind-hearted and you put others first. I don't understand why people would not like you. And the thing is, I do like you. Maybe even more than I should." Whoa, what?

I cleared my throat several times and blinked just as much. Then I closed my eyes and swallowed. What the hell? I mean, okay, wow, I was overwhelmed. He just… did he just say he liked me? Was I supposed to answer? If I were to answer, I knew that I would just let out a few very embarrassing things. But maybe I wanted him to know…

"I, uh… I don't know… I mean, I…" But Nick shook his head and smiled.

"You don't have to say anything, you know? I suppose you understood what I just said and if you don't… if you don't feel the same way as I do then that's okay. I know this is all sudden, but there's just something about you that… it makes me curious and just like you, you know? You're different but in a good way. I could tell you so many reasons about why I like you but we don't have that much time." I blushed furiously after that.

He was so close to me right now; physically and emotionally. Should I just go on and say it? Would it ruin everything? Would it make it all better? Was I ready to let him know that I've adored him for the longest time? It was all just going so fast, maybe this wasn't really real. How could I be sure that he was being serious?

"Listen, I'm just going to go out and say it. I like you too… like, maybe more than I should as well. But the thing is that I can't be sure if you're being serious. I'm sorry, I know it sounds harsh… but just a week ago, you weren't even talking to me and suddenly you like me 'more than you should'? I just… how can I trust you and what you're saying? You do know what I mean, right?"

And instead of answering, Nick smiled and leaned over, softly kissing my cheek. It was probably one of the sweetest things I've ever felt. And it would be little things like that that would make me fall for him faster than you could count to ten. I blushed again and smiled as well, looking over at him. He grinned and put an arm around my shoulder.

"If you're not sure you can trust me yet, I'll just have to make you trust me. And I'll try anything to do so. And I get what you're saying. But believe me when I say I've noticed you way back, probably at the beginning of Sophomore Year. And don't ask me how I started liking you because I don't know… It just happened."

Maybe it was just some sort of reflex of mine but I subconsciously leaned into Nick. He wrapped his arm tighter around me and then sighed. It sounded happy, as if he would have nowhere else he'd rather be. I smiled a little, not quite believing what was happening. Here I was, in the arms of my big time crush, the most unreachable person in the whole school, and he was telling me that he liked me… more than he should.

"Not to ruin the mood or anything, but… can I tell Demi and Brooke? I mean, I don't know exactly what to tell them. It's not like we're together right now or anything. But I just…. I mean… I don't know, you know, just tell them something. Because I know Brooke, she'll ask tons of questions, she'll sense that something's going on and… she'll want answers. And Demi is Demi; she will want to know something too once she's realized that something's going on."

I felt a low rumbling underneath my head which was placed on Nick's chest – very muscular chest, by the way. I looked up at him to see him chuckling. I flushed a very scarlet red, I'm sure. My ranting always got me into situations like this, you see. I would not only rant to people that I liked, but to teachers and… a few other people that probably should not hear some of the things I say when I'm ranting. Sometimes, I would give out some weird detail about myself that would get me in very embarrassing situations – for short; I'll be made fun of.

"Uh, yeah, sure, why not? I told you, I don't care what people think. You can tell anyone whatever you like about… us. Or, well, not whatever because if you tell them bad things, I suppose I would be mad and embarrassed." I giggled. Nick just flashed me one of his beautiful – and there really is no other word for it other than that – smiles.

"You have a very nice laugh… and a cute giggle." I blushed again and wondered if too much blushing was unhealthy for your face or something like that. I put my head down again and listened to his steady heartbeat while he pulled me yet a little closer. If this is how my life would end, I think I would die a happy woman… or girl.

If someone had told me that this would happen after that day, I would definitely not have believed them. I mean, if someone had told me this would happen any day of my life ever since I'd started crushing on him, I would not have believed them. I wasn't a positive person, you know. I mean, I was but not in that way, not concerning my life.

"So, just to make sure… did you like the pizza?" I giggled again and nodded, knowing he would feel me nodding on his chest. I answered anyway, but just the fact that he could feel me nodding was just… amazing.

"Yup… And just so you know, it's my favorite pizza, so you got lucky. If it had been any other kind, I might not have let you in, even though I was practically starving to death." He laughed and I felt something on my hair. I later realized that it was his lips that had kissed me there and I smiled just thinking about it. So this was what it would be like to have a boyfriend. I could get used to that…

* * *

"He what? You what? I… why did you not tell us sooner?" I grinned and shrugged. It was just a few hours later and Nick had already left. We had watched some TV, talked a little and basically sat on the couch for hours, not really doing anything. And for goodbye he'd kissed my cheek again but he'd lingered there a little. Now, I'm just saying but… that did definitely mean something and knowing that he 'liked me more then he should' then… yeah, it was awesome.

"I didn't tell you sooner because obviously he's just left like, half an hour ago and I called you right after." But Brooke wouldn't take that for an answer. Obviously, I could have just told her on the phone, right?

"You could have just told me on the phone too, you know? I mean, you were all cryptic and you kept saying 'oh my god' all the time which I know, I do too, but you don't usually so I had to assume something had to have happened and since you didn't sound too panicked or anything I knew it was something good which of course made me curious. But anyway… so, he came over here with your favorite pizza and… then what again?" I laughed as Demi rolled her eyes. Brooke was way too dramatic for her own good.

"Well, we talked, he told me that he liked me a lot – more than he should, his own words – and I told him I liked him too and all that and then… well, I also said that I wasn't so sure that he was being honest, that he wasn't just playing some kind of game. So basically, I said that I couldn't really trust him yet and he understood and said that it was fine and he would do anything just to make me trust him and… gosh, I don't know how to say what I really want to say… we might… well, if, you know, everything goes perfectly fine we might… get together at some point or another." Brooke squealed loudly as Demi gasped and hugged me.

Okay, there was nothing to celebrate there at all. I was not sure that what I'd just said was actually true. I mean, seriously, we might not get together as well. And even though it appeared that way at the moment, he might change his mind in that way and just want to remain as we are right now. I just had to get it all out and who else could I have told other than my two best – and only – friends?

"That is amazing, Miles! So this is something serious then?" I turned to Demi who was grinning from ear to ear at me. Brooke was all the while fuzzing around, talking nonsense but I just ignored her. After I heard the words 'love' and soon followed by 'marriage' I knew she was talking herself into a frenzy of things that are so absurd right now. She was also mainly talking to herself at this point so it didn't matter whether I was listening or not.

"Well, not serious yet. I mean, I suppose it's been always serious for me in a way, you know? Like, I've always had this crazy crush on him but you know that, right? So now that he told me that he's developed some sort of feelings for me, obviously the level of serious has… I don't know, we're more serious than before, if that's what you mean." Demi just grinned.

"I find it adorable that you two… well, you know… You're just adorable. I mean, I've never seen you two interact in any way at all, but I know it must be adorable. I've heard that he's quite the romantic." I rolled my eyes but smirked. I would find out eventually, wouldn't I? Hopefully, that is…

"Your kids will be so cute, and I'll definitely be the godmother for at least one. Yeah, and then your grandchildren…" I put a hand on Brooke's arm to catch her attention.

"Hey, Brookie, slow down. We're barely friends right now, I think it's a little too early to talk about grandchildren yet." Brooke's breath started to even out and then she smiled with a final sigh. Good, she's calmed down.

"Yeah, you're right… I mean, you got to have sex first obviously, else you won't even get children let alone grandchildren." I rolled my eyes. Yeah, she was totally calmed down.

"And before we have sex we actually have to get together and kiss… and get to know each other as well, don't you think? Brooke, you're thinking ahead of yourself right now. Especially since it's not really up to you anyway, what's going to happen, that is. That's my decision, if not Nick's. If he doesn't want to be with me like that, then nothing's going to happen." Brooke dramatically rolled her eyes and waved me off.

"Eh, you're saying that as if it's not going to happen. But I know it is." Choosing to ignore Brooke until further notice, I just nodded and walked into the kitchen, deciding to get something to eat. Naturally, both of them followed me. Whenever something concerned food, those two were up for it. Not that they were begging me to give them something – they expected me to do so.

"So, okay, I think I'll make Mac and Cheese." Brooke and Demi groaned.

"You always make Mac and Cheese!" I shrugged and got everything I'd need to cook.

"So what? It's the only thing I can cook without burning down the house. Or do you not remember the spaghetti incident? Or the ravioli one? Everything ended up with us almost burning down the whole house, maybe even ourselves, and my mom flipping out and calling the fire brigade. It's safe to say that I don't need nor want a repeat of that so I'll just make Mac and Cheese. Got it?" Brooke and Demi just giggled.

Yeah, those incidents really happened. And they weren't as funny as they might have sounded. Those fire men people laughed their asses off though once they'd found out whose pathetic try it was to heat up spaghetti in the microwave. Yes, I tried to but clearly, it didn't work. Lesson learned, no need to laugh.

Mac and Cheese was always a safe bet for me. Don't know why I was able to cook that but not spaghetti and other nourishment. I mean, I could try to heat up some pizza, but it might end up as bad as the spaghetti and I was not up to risk that yet. I couldn't even remember how the spaghetti had caught fire in the first place, it just happened.

Also, Mac and Cheese was my favorite food besides pizza and I would start to get talkative over it. I knew that Brooke and Demi wanted more details about Nick behind here and all that. I was nice enough to do that for them. I could just tell them without food but I was hungry again and talking was so much more fun with food, at least to me.

And so I cooked us some Mac' N' Cheese and we sat down at the table and I started talking. I told them about every little detail of the day, how I'd felt bad about what happened in school even though I knew that they knew and how Nick had also felt bad about it, why ever he did, I really had no idea. I told them every line and every move of the afternoon, almost giving them a play by play and I knew they were satisfied with it.

They left about two hours later. At that time I could safely go to bed without seeming like a wimp. It was ten already. So I just cleaned the dishes, washed up, got changed into my pajamas and finally went to bed. Needless to say that I'd dreamed of Nick and me, that afternoon and the hopefully many more to come. Yeah, it was a very nice dream… And the next day would be just as nice.

* * *

**So it's been a long time even though I've said that once vacation starts I'll update more often and sooner than usually. But see, my laptop broke and we haven't gotten around to fix it (we might never apparently) so I had to start a whole new chapter on my mom's laptop. So, this wasn't how I'd originally all planned it to go and this chapter turned out relatively short as well, compared to others. I know, cheap excuse :P**

**Anyway, this chapter also sucked in my opinion... it's also a bad excuse for the long wait... I mean, something big does happen but still, to me it seemed boring... I don't know... sorry if there are any mistakes in there. I did proof-read but ... yeah, I don't know... anyway, I hoped that you liked reading it (if you still do :P) and thank you for bothering to read this piece of... (insert a really bad word here ;))**


End file.
